and 13% through the first nine months of the year compared with the same periods in 2016. The segment continues to benefit from higher fee-based earnings and increased transportation capacity contracted.

We continue discussions with producers and markets to develop long-term natural gas takeaway solutions across our footprint, especially out of the Permian Basin, where we have had a long-standing asset position with our West Tex Pipeline System and recently our joint venture Roadrunner Pipeline.

As Walt discussed, we've announced nearly half a billion dollars of capital growth projects, with the most recent being the $200 million expansion of the West Texas LPG Pipeline into the prolific Delaware Basin, one of the fastest growing plays in the US. The project is supported by long-term dedicated NGL production from two third-partywall interposed therebetween. For this reason, in a configuration in which the air passage, which is made to substantially the same length as the air intake passage, is connected from the back end thereof to a predetermined location in the engine by way of an external conduit pipe as in conventional systems, positioning the conduit pipe tends to be extremely difficult depending on the location for feeding scavenging air because the space between the carburetor main body and the engine is narrow. Described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-268917 (‘917 application) is a configuration in which the air channel is made to diverge from the carburetor inlet portion from the air intake passage, and is connected to a predetermined position on the side face of the engine