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FERC Approves Startup of ET Pipe Connecting M-U Gas to Gulf Coast

Gulf Run Pipeline map (click for larger version)

Gulf Run Transmission LLC received the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) stamp of approval on Wednesday to place the Gulf Run Pipeline into service delivering domestically produced natural gas from the Marcellus/Utica and several other shale plays to Gulf Coast and international markets. The newly constructed 135-mile, 42-inch natural gas pipeline in Louisiana has a capacity of 1.65 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day).
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PA PUC Cuts $48K Refund Check for Mariner East Pipeline Penalty

In March, MDN told you that the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a ruling against the now completed Mariner East 2 pipeline project, assessing a $51,000 fine on the project for work done near an apartment complex (see PA PUC Judge Fines Mariner East Pipe $51K for Work Near Apt Bldg). In June, the full PUC voted to accept and enforce the $51,000 fine recommended by the PUC judge (see PA PUC Upholds ME Pipe Fine of $51K for Work Near Apartment Bldg). Two months later (in August), the PUC voted to reverse its own decision, lowering the fine from $51,000 to $3,000 (see PA PUC Reduces ME Pipe Fine to $3K for Work Near Apartment Bldg). However, that wasn’t the end of the story…
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ET CEO Says Biden Energy Policy Like “Saturday Night Live” Skit

On Tuesday, the co-CEO of Energy Transfer, Marshall McCrea, went on an extended rant during the company’s quarterly update about Joe Biden’s energy policies and the Bidenistas in federal agencies who are attacking the fossil fuel industry. McCrea compared Biden’s policies to a sitcom, like a Saturday Night Live skit. McCrea said, “I mean, my goodness, if this doesn’t seem like a sitcom or Saturday Night Live skit, it’d be funny if it wasn’t so tragically sad. I guess we’re kind of tired of being attacked in the fossil-fuel business.” His comments triggered something. We think we know the genesis of McCrea’s comments comparing Biden to an SNL skit. Last weekend, just before Halloween, SNL ran a faux Halloween movie trailer about Biden running in 2024. It is *hysterically* funny. The skit skewers not only Biden, but other potential 2024 candidates, including Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, and (yes) even Hillary Clinton! You know when the left turns on itself and uses humor to destroy its own candidates, it’s all over and done.
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PA PUC Reduces ME Pipe Fine to $3K for Work Near Apartment Bldg

In March, MDN told you that the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a ruling against the now completed Mariner East 2 pipeline project, assessing a $51,000 fine on the project for work done near an apartment complex (see PA PUC Judge Fines Mariner East Pipe $51K for Work Near Apt Bldg). In June, the full PUC voted to accept and enforce the $51,000 fine recommended by the PUC judge (see PA PUC Upholds ME Pipe Fine of $51K for Work Near Apartment Bldg). And now, two months later, the PUC has voted to reverse its own decision, lowering the fine from $51,000 to $3,000. Why? What changed?
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Shell Cuts Deal to Buy LNG from La. Facility it Previously Dumped

Talk about irony! Scared of the potential impacts of the coronavirus and with the price of oil crashing in March 2020 (just as COVID was getting started), Royal Dutch 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 Shell Pulls Out of Lake Charles LNG Project, Energy Transfer Stays). In an announcement issued yesterday, ET said it had cut a deal with its old partner to sell them 2.1 million tonnes (MT) of LNG per year from the Lake Charles facility when the facility gets up and running in 2026. Shell must be kicking itself…
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Fed Judge Certifies Class Action Investor Lawsuit Against ME2 Pipe

In January 2020, the retirement systems for public employees of various municipalities, including the Allegheny County (PA) Employees’ Retirement System, filed a lawsuit against Energy Transfer and subsidiary Sunoco Logistics alleging top management made false and misleading statements about the construction of three Mariner East 2 and the Revolution natural gas pipeline projects in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit alleges because of those statements, the share price of their stock fell, and investors lost a boatload of money. In April 2021, the lawsuit survived a motion to dismiss by Energy Transfer (see Fed Judge Allows Investor Lawsuit Against ME2 Pipeline to Advance). Yesterday the same federal judge who allowed the case to continue in 2021 certified the case to be converted into a class action. Let the (legal) sharks begin to feed…
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ET Pleads No Contest to “Crimes” for ME, Revolution Pipelines

Loathsome and disgusting shale energy hater Josh Shapiro, Attorney General for Pennsylvania (running for governor), announced on Friday that he finally bullied Energy Transfer into pleading “no contest” (meaning they don’t admit to a darned thing) in a so-called criminal case against the company for a series of accidents affecting construction for both the Revolution and Mariner East pipelines. Shapiro brought the case–a case that converts accidents into crimes–in order to burnish his credibility with the wacko left in his own party. Now he has a “victory” to run on–and everyone in Pennsylvania is the poorer because of it.
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Mariner East & Marcus Hook Hit Record High M-U NGL Exports in 2Q

Earlier this week, Energy Transfer (ET), the builder of the mighty Mariner East pipelines and owner/expander of the Marcus Hook refinery, issued its second quarter update. The company had plenty of positive news to report, including net income of $1.33 billion, a $700 million increase from the same period last year. In July, the company hit a new record high for the amount of NGLs flowing through the Mariner East pipeline system. It has also found a way to squeeze another roughly 10,000 barrels per day of NGL exports out of Marcus Hook.
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ET Makes Significant Progress Cleaning Up Marsh Creek Lake

While drilling in Chester County in August 2020 in the Marsh Creek State Park area, Energy Transfer’s (ET) Mariner East 2X pipeline experienced an “inadvertent return”–nontoxic drilling mud coming up out of the ground where it’s not supposed to (see Mariner East 2X Construction Causes Another Drilling Mud Spill). In this case, an estimated 8,100 gallons of non-toxic drilling mud came up in a small section of the 535-acre Marsh Creek Lake. It was a costly episode for ET. In December, the state announced a gun-to-the-head “agreement” with ET that forced ET to pay a $4 million fine and spend another $4 million (or more) to dredge and fix the area, with an extra $341,000 in civil penalties for permit violations as the cherry on top (see PA Charges Mariner East Pipeline $8M+ to Fix Marsh Creek Lake). ET is making excellent progress on cleaning up Marsh Creek Lake.
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PA PUC Upholds ME Pipe Fine of $51K for Work Near Apartment Bldg

In March MDN told you that the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a ruling against the now completed Mariner East 2 pipeline project, assessing a $51,000 fine on the project (see PA PUC Judge Fines Mariner East Pipe $51K for Work Near Apt Bldg). This latest parting shot at the now-completed NGL pipeline project was levied for being too loud and not doing enough to communicate with residents of an apartment complex near where the pipeline was doing construction work in Delaware County. Yesterday the full PUC voted to accept and enforce the $51,000 fine recommended by the PUC judge.
Read More “PA PUC Upholds ME Pipe Fine of $51K for Work Near Apartment Bldg”

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Energy Transfer Faces Hearing for Supposed ME Pipe Crimes June 21

Last October Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is now running for governor, indicted Energy Transfer with 48 enviro-crimes related to the building of the Mariner East pipeline project (see Corrupt PA AG Shapiro Charges Mariner East 2 Pipe with 48 Crimes). Shapiro has an ongoing, open attack against the Marcellus industry. He duped a grand jury into indicting Energy Transfer, convincing them accidents are now crimes. A preliminary hearing on those 48 sham charges will happen on June 21st. Here’s the latest update…
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ET Signs 25-Year Deal with China Gas for Lake Charles, La. LNG

Energy Transfer (ET) has signed a fifth customer to accept shipments of LNG produced by ET’s yet-to-be-constructed LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana, located on the Calcasieu ship channel. Yesterday (yes, on a Sunday), ET issued a press release to announce a 25-year deal with China Gas to purchase 0.7 million tonnes (MT) of LNG per year on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. Added with the other deals, ET has now pre-sold 5.8 MT per year of the site’s planned capacity to produce 16.45 MT per year, meaning 35% of the capacity is now spoken for. More than a third of the way there!
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Clean Air Council Claims Victory in Marcus Hook Air Permit Case

The radicals of the Clean Air Council (CAC) are claiming a (very small) victory in their campaign against processing NGLs at the Marcus Hook refinery located near Philadelphia. CAC is CACkling that they have forced Energy Transfer, builder of the mighty Mariner East (ME) pipeline system (a pipeline that CAC couldn’t stop), to back down on how permits are issued for the Marcus Hook facility–the place where NGLs from ME end up for processing and loading for export. The end result is…well…not much. Nothing will really change. The same volume of NGLs will still flow to Marcus Hook, and the same volume of NGLs will be loaded onto ships and exported to other countries. The only thing that changes is that ET spends more time and pays more money to obtain a single large permit instead of two separate, smaller permits. We’ll explain.
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Mariner East Pipe Fulfills Promise as Southeast Pa. Economic Engine

As we told you last week, Energy Transfer, during its first quarter update, spoke about the now-completed Mariner East pipeline system that flows NGLs, including ethane, propane, and butane, from eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania all the way to southeastern PA and the Marcus Hook terminal (see Energy Transfer 1Q: ME Pipe Done; Possible Marcus Hook Expansion). Here’s two pieces of information we picked up in a new article in the Philly Inquirer: (1) The original ME1 Pipeline (an older pipeline repurposed to use for NGLs) is being converted back into flowing refined fuels from Midwestern refineries to the Philadelphia market, and (2) a temporary workaround pipeline in the Philly area used for ME was taken out of service back in February.
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Energy Transfer 1Q: ME Pipe Done; Possible Marcus Hook Expansion

Energy Transfer, one of the biggest pipeline and midstream companies in the U.S., issued its quarterly update yesterday. Of particular interest to us was the honorable mention the Mariner Easter (ME) project received. Construction of the final phase of the Mariner East project was completed in 1Q22, bringing Energy Transfer’s total NGL capacity on the Mariner East pipeline system to more than 365,000 barrels per day, including ethane. NGLs, including those flowing through the ME system, along with LNG, were the two dominant themes running through yesterday’s update.
Read More “Energy Transfer 1Q: ME Pipe Done; Possible Marcus Hook Expansion”

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ET Signs Deal with S Korea’s SK Gas for Lake Charles, La. LNG

Another day, another deal from Energy Transfer (ET) in signing up customers to accept shipments of LNG produced by ET’s yet-to-be-constructed LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana located on the Calcasieu ship channel. Yesterday we told you ET had signed up Singapore’s Gunvor to accept 2.0 million tonnes (MT) per year (see ET Signs Deal with Singapore’s Gunvor for Lake Charles, La. LNG). Today we bring you news of ET signing another customer, South Korea’s SK Gas Trading, to accept 0.4 MT per year.
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