A Pulse! WV Ethane Cracker Project Comes Back from the Dead
What’s this? The all-but-dead ethane cracker project planned for West Virginia has new life! (Perhaps the Shell announcement has something to do with it?) Brazilian company Odebrecht has pulled out of the Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise (ASCENT) project previously announced for the Parkersburg, WV area (see Odebrecht Pushes the Pause Button on WV Ethane Cracker). However, Odebrect subsidiary Braskem has confirmed they will now move forward with developing the project on their own. If this bears out, it is fantastic news for a state that (in our opinion) deserves a cracker. But before you get overly excited, Braskem’s announcement that they are now the lead on the project is still not a confirmation they will build it. Braskem is still in the evaluation stage…
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Antero Resources announced yesterday that the company has just cut a deal with Southwestern Energy to purchase 55,000 net acres located in Wetzel, Tyler and Doddridge Counties in West Virginia for $450 million. Antero says the acreage is in the “core” of the Marcellus and some 75% of the acreage also includes Utica Shale rights. The acreage Southwestern is selling is acreage they themselves bought in 2014 from Chesapeake Energy. Chessy originally signed the acreage with landowners for $5 per acre (peanuts). Southwestern paid Chesapeake $12,000 per acre (see 
As we pointed out in our companion story today, Antero Resources took Southwestern Energy to cleaners in buying 55,000 of Marcellus/Utica acres for about one-third less than Southwestern paid for the acreage just two years ago (see 
As we report today, Antero Resources is buying 55,000 acres of leases in the Marcellus (and Utica) Shale from Southwestern Energy (see 
Gentlemen, start your engines! Your economic engines, that is. The news earlier this week that Shell has made the commitment to move ahead and build an ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA has, as we knew it would, set the region buzzing (see 
The NEXUS Pipeline is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada (see 
A group of business and government leaders from Ohio and West Virginia in what is called the Mid-Ohio Valley have banded together to form an economic development group called Shale Crescent USA. The group has been some two years in the making and officially launched yesterday at a public event in Washington County, OH. The aim of the group is to attract manufacturers (particularly petrochemical manufacturers) to set up shop in the region. Leaders of the new organization point out the unique location, with the mighty Ohio River to barge materials and products in and out, and the location right on top of the most abundant supplies of cheap natural gas in the entire world. In addition to yesterday’s event, the group launched a website: 
It’s not only power generating plants that are converting from burning coal to burning natural gas. York, PA paper manufacturer Glatfelter is working on a $63 million conversion project from coal-fired boilers to Marcellus Shale gas-fired boilers. Glatfelter considered other alternatives, like scrubbers for the current coal-fired boilers and using biomass boilers. In the end, Glatfelter said Marcellus Shale gas has “lower emissions, increased efficiency, lower variable costs” and supports “a resource critical to the state’s economic health.” Wise choice. The Glatfelter decision to convert to Marcellus Shale gas was highlighted yesterday at an economic forum in southcentral PA…
In our ongoing soap opera of whether or not Energy Transfer Equity and Williams will tie the knot, another new development to report. Yesterday the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave the deal its stamp of approval–providing Williams sells its 50% ownership in Gulfstream Natural Gas System LLC (located in Florida). Yesterday both Williams and ETE issued the same, nearly word-for-word identical statements, indicating some level of communication between the two still exists…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: PA ethane cracker will boost NGL production; OH says PA cracker is good news for their cracker too; PA chemical industry supports PennEast Pipeline; paying for pipelines in New England; record high natgas trading volumes in 2015; natgas prices jump 6% while oil stalls; what is the future of natgas price?; cheap Canadian gas aggravates US; and more!