Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Enterprise Products Partners | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Regulation
U.S. Denies Permit for Enterprise to Export Ethane Cargoes to China
Two days ago, RBN Energy reported that ethane and butane exports for Enterprise Products Partners and possibly other NGL exporters were in doubt following a notice received by Enterprise from the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) flagging such exports to China as a security risk (see Ethane and Butane Exports to China in Doubt Due to Security Risk). Yesterday, Enterprise confirmed the news, with a twist. Read More “U.S. Denies Permit for Enterprise to Export Ethane Cargoes to China”
Rover Pipeline, a 713-mile natural gas pipeline, was designed to carry up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus and Utica gas from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio to destinations in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, and Canada. The project was completed and came online in late 2018 (see 
Energy Transfer’s (ET) Lake Charles LNG project is in the news again. In April, we told you that ET had landed a new partner to help pay for the project, MidOcean Energy, which will cover 30% of the cost of building the plant (see 
Just as the pandemic began to unfold in early 2020, Shell pulled out of a 50/50 joint venture partnership with Energy Transfer (ET) to build a new LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana (see 
Here’s a lawsuit we were unaware of, even though it’s been playing out for years. It’s quite complicated. On the surface, at a very basic level, Cardinal Midstream II (we assume a subsidiary of the Dallas-based 
This is a sweet victory for our side. Last summer, MDN told you about a lawsuit being heard to hold Big Green groups (namely Greenpeace) responsible for their actions. Energy Transfer (ET), the owner and operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAP), sued Greenpeace and other alleged instigators for $300 million for the damages sustained by the company due to violent protests incited by the groups in North Dakota in 2016 (see 
A Washington County, PA, judge is closing the barn door about 12 years late. On February 7, Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Brandon P. Neuman ruled Sunoco Pipeline, LLC (i.e., Energy Transfer) did not have the eminent domain authority to take property for the Mariner East Pipelines in 2013 from Bradley and Amy Simon (in Washington County), and possibly many other property owners. The case alleges that while ME gained eminent domain authority later, when the company negotiated with the Simons (and potentially others), it did not have that legal authority, yet it claimed it did. The Simons signed a lease they otherwise would not have signed if they had full information. They either would not have signed, or perhaps negotiated a bigger payment. That’s the gist of the story—that ME fraudulently presented claims. 
According to an investigative reporter for Penn State, between 2018 and 2023, Pennsylvania fined Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Sunoco at least $42 million in connection to the construction of Mariner East II. Some $10 million of that came from a deal with the PA Attorney General’s office (who happened to be Josh Shapiro at the time) for supposed repeat contaminations of waterways, failures to report environmental damage, and the use of unapproved chemicals in drilling fluid (see 
Did you happen to catch the news lighting up all the cable news stations yesterday about Chinese startup DeepSeek? The company launched a free AI assistant that it claims uses less data at a fraction of the cost of other AI models. By Monday, the DeepSeek assistant had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s app store. The news sent traders into a tailspin of selling off tech company stocks like Nvidia (which makes the chips used in AI). The news also affected natural gas drillers negatively. Why? 
Just as the pandemic began to unfold in early 2020, Shell pulled out of a 50/50 joint venture partnership with Energy Transfer (ET) to build a new LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana (see 
Two days ago, Energy Transfer (ET), a major midstream (pipeline) company with assets in the Marcellus/Utica, issued its third quarter update. ET has assets in many areas of the country, so there was plenty of discussion about pipelines in other areas. However, the centerpiece of the update and the conference call with analysts was the incredible (and we mean incredible) demand ET is seeing from both gas-fired power plants (new and existing) and data center projects. In his opening remarks, Tom Long, co-CEO of ET, said the company has received requests to connect to approximately 45 power plants the company does not currently serve in 11 states. The demand from those 45 plants would be 6 Bcf per day. In addition, ET has requests from over 40 prospective data centers in 10 states that would use another 10 Bcf/d. A combined 16 Bcf/d of new demand for one company. Incredible! 
In 2019, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) began formulating new regulations for intrastate pipelines transporting gasoline, petroleum, crude oil, and natural gas liquids like ethane. In July 2021, the PUC finally published a draft of new regulations (see 
A lawsuit being heard this summer is designed to hold Big Green groups responsible for their actions. Energy Transfer (ET), the owner and operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAP), is suing Greenpeace and other alleged instigators for $300 million for the damages sustained by the company as a result of violent protests incited by the groups in North Dakota in 2016. Big Green is scared.