June 14 (Reuters) - The Mountain Valley pipeline, a

303-mile natural gas transmission pipeline stretching across

West Virginia and Virginia, began operations on Friday.

The pipeline is now available for interruptible or

short-term firm transportation service until long-term firm

capacity obligations commence on July 1, 2024, U.S. gas pipeline

company Equitrans Midstream ( ETRN ), the lead partner in the

venture, said in a statement.

The pipeline is designed to carry up to 2 Bcf of natural gas

daily from the Marcellus and Utica shale production regions to

local distribution companies, power generation facilities,

industrial users and others in growing demand markets in the

mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S., Equitrans said.

The $7.85-billion pipeline has been under construction since

2018, facing multiple regulatory and legal challenges along the

way, and received approval from the U.S. Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission earlier this week.

When Mountain Valley started construction, Equitrans

estimated the project would cost about $3.5 billion and enter

service by late 2018. The 303-mile (488-km) project is owned by

units of Equitrans, NextEra Energy, Consolidated Edison ( ED )

, AltaGas ( ATGFF ) and RGC Resources ( RGCO ). Equitrans

will operate the pipeline.