SEARCY, Ark. (AP) Texas Gas Transmission plans to build a 167-mi. (269 km) natural gas pipeline in central Arkansas to transport newly discovered gas deposits in the Fayetteville Shale.

Texas Gas, headquartered in Owensboro, Ky., has begun the filing process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC will be the lead federal agency for conducting an environmental review of the project.

The line, called the Fayetteville Lateral, would measure approximately 36 in. (91 cm) in diameter and would begin near Grandview in Conway County. The line would head east to Letona in White County, go through Bald Knob, and head south to Helena, then cross into Mississippi and connect with a Texas Gas line in Lula in Coahoma County.

The company expected the line will cost approximately $360 million.

With regulatory approval, Texas Gas plans to begin construction in 2008 and complete the project in early 2009. The line would carry gas from the Fayetteville Shale, an underground reservoir of natural gas that was first plumbed by Houston-based Southwestern Energy Company in 2004.

The Fayetteville Lateral is part of a Texas Gas expansion project that also includes building a new pipeline in Mississippi, starting at Greenville and ending at Kosciusko.

Texas Gas pipelines extend 5,900 mi. (9,495 km) through nine states and carry gas to U.S. markets in the South, Midwest and Northeast.

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