M-U’s Next Mega Project: $10B Appalachian Storage Hub

In May 2016, MDN brought you the news that a researcher at West Virginia University believes a natural gas liquids (NGL) storage hub is what the Marcellus/Utica region really needs (see WVU Researcher Says Marcellus/Utica Needs an Ethane Storage Hub). According to Brian Anderson, director of WVU’s Energy Institute, without ethane storage (and pipelines) the Marcellus/Utica region risks seeing its abundant ethane leave the area, mostly heading to the Gulf Coast. We need that ethane here, in our area. Kevin DiGregorio, executive director of the Chemical Alliance Zone, has also taken up the cause, writing an opinion article in which he says West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky need to band together to build such a project (see WV, OH, PA, KY Should Cooperate on $10B NGL Storage Hub). You mean, set aside their competitive natures and cooperate? Yes! Why? Such a project will cost an estimated $10 billion--far more than a single ethane cracker project. No one state can do it on its own. It will take all our states cooperating to pull it off. It's time to turn the spotlight on this project. The Appalachian Storage Hub Conference is coming on June 15 in Canonsburg, PA (Pittsburgh). The conference will take a stab at moving the ball down the field in making this critical project happen...

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