Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP announced the launch of a binding open season to solicit commitments for the previously announced Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access (UTOPIA) project. The project will provide transport for ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from the Utica Shale area. The binding open season began Sept. 5 at 8 a.m. Central Time. Additional documents and details regarding the open season will be made available upon completion of a confidentiality agreement, the company said in a statement.

The UTOPIA project, which Kinder Morgan Cochin will develop, build, own and operate, will consist of a 240-mile, 12-inch diameter pipeline from Harrison County, Ohio, to Kinder Morgan’s Cochin Pipeline near Riga, Mich. From there, the company would move product to Winsor, Ontario. UTOPIA would transport refined or fractionated NGL, including ethane and propane. The project has an expected initial capacity of 50,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), which is expandable to more than 75,000 bbl/d. Pending a successful open season and timely receipt of regulatory approvals and permits, the pipeline is expected to enter service by early 2018.