U.S. pipeline company Energy Transfer LP said on Nov.2 that federal energy regulators approved the company's request to put the last two segments of its $4.2 billion Rover natural gas pipeline into service:

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) allowed Energy Transfer to put its Sherwood and CGT laterals in West Virginia into service.

Energy Transfer originally planned to complete Rover in November 2017, but since starting construction in March 2017, has been delayed by numerous notices of violation in Ohio and other states, some of which led to temporarily stop work orders from state and federal regulators.

The 713-mile (1,148-kilometer) Rover is designed to carry up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of gas from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to Michigan.

One billion cubic feet is enough gas to supply about five million U.S. homes for a day.

Rover has been entering service in phases since August 2017 as Energy Transfer completed each section.

Major producers signed up to use Rover include units of privately held Ascent Resources, Antero Resources Corp, Range Resources Corp, Southwestern Energy Co, Eclipse Resources Corp and EQT Corp.

Rover is one of several pipelines under construction this year to connect growing output from the Marcellus and Utica shale basins in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to customers in other parts of the United States and Canada.

New pipelines built to remove gas from the Appalachia region will enable shale drillers there to boost output into a projected record high of around 29.8 Bcf/d in November from 26.1 Bcf/d during the same month a year ago, according to federal energy data.

That represents about 36% of the nation's total dry gas output of 81.1 Bcf/d expected on average in 2018. The Appalachia region produced just 1.6 Bcf/d, or 3 percent of the country's total production, in 2008.