| | | | | | |

ATEX Ethane Pipeline Explodes, Burns in Brooke County, WV

Follansbee pipeline fireYesterday morning a section of the 20-inch ATEX (Appalachia to Texas) ethane pipeline ruptured and caught fire in Follansbee (Brooke County), WV. No one was injured but two families living nearby were evacuated as a precaution. The first calls of an explosion and fire came around 10:40 am yesterday. The cause of the rupture is not yet known…
Read More “ATEX Ethane Pipeline Explodes, Burns in Brooke County, WV”

| | | |

Energy Transfer Partners Buys Regency Energy for $25B

Big NewsBig news in the midstream (pipelines and processing plants) world. Today, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) announced they are merging with and buying Regency Energy Partners in a deal with a total value of $24.8 billion–$18 billion in stock and cash, and $6.8 billion in assumed Regency debts. You may recognize both names, as both companies are active in the Marcellus and Utica Shale…
Read More “Energy Transfer Partners Buys Regency Energy for $25B”

| | | | | |

What’s a Fair Price for Running Pipelines Through Your Property?

The landowners in Tyler County, WV who sit along the proposed route of Energy Transfer Partners 800-mile, $4.4 billion pipeline, called Rover, to connect the Marcellus/Utica region with the Midwest and Canada are asking for one thing: a fair price. According to one landowner, they’ve received an offer from ETP that’s about 1/3 of where it should be. Problem is, if landowners don’t accept ETP’s offer, once the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approves the pipeline, ETP can then use eminent domain to simply take the land it needs and pay the price it wants to pay. Landowners’ only recourse at that point is to ask a court to arbitrate a price. No, we’re not fans of eminent domain–it’s an imperfect concept for an imperfect situation in which some hold-out landowners remain unreasonable. But that doesn’t excuse lack of a fair price. So what price has been offered and what do landowners think is a fair price to receive?…
Read More “What’s a Fair Price for Running Pipelines Through Your Property?”

| | | | | |

ET Rover Pipeline’s 800-Mile Journey Begins with FERC Filing

Energy Transfer Partners plans to build an 800-mile, $4.4 billion pipeline that will connect the Marcellus and Utica Shale region to Canada (see ET Rover Pipeline Fully Subscribed, Project Scope Revised Up). The pipeline will connect Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio and cross the Buckeye State going northwest before entering Michigan and eventually taking a dog-leg into Ontario (see the map embedded below). These kinds of projects take multiple years to complete–with many steps. On Friday, ET filed their draft Resource Reports of environmental survey data with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). It’s one of the first steps on an 800-mile journey…
Read More “ET Rover Pipeline’s 800-Mile Journey Begins with FERC Filing”

| | | | | | | |

Property Tax Revenue/Economic Impact from ET Rover Pipeline in OH

Seems like “all of a sudden” large pipeline projects planned for the northeast have begun talking about how much property taxes (and economic impacts) their projects will pay out. Yesterday it was the 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline project from Dominion (see Atlantic Coast Pipeline: $25M/Yr in Prop. Tax, $70M/Yr Econ Impact). Today? Energy Transfer Partners’ Rover pipeline, a 620-mile pipeline that will carry Marcellus and Utica Shale gas west, through Ohio into Michigan and on to Ontario, Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). How much of an economic impact and how much in property tax will it pay out? We have some numbers…
Read More “Property Tax Revenue/Economic Impact from ET Rover Pipeline in OH”

| | |

ET Rover Pipeline Fully Subscribed, Project Scope Revised Up

In June MDN told you about yet another new pipeline coming to the northeast to help alleviate infrastructure bottlenecks with getting our plentiful gas to market. Energy Transfer Partners announced the ET Rover pipeline project that will connect Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). Yesterday ETP issued a press release to crow that the pipeline is now “fully subscribed”–that is, all available capacity has been spoken for with 15 to 20 year contracts. Interestingly, MDN noticed two key differences between this announcement and previous announcements…
Read More “ET Rover Pipeline Fully Subscribed, Project Scope Revised Up”

| | | |

ETP Selects Manufacturer for 600 Miles of Pipeline for ET Rover

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) in June announced their intention to build a 600-mile long pipeline called ET Rover that will shuttle some 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to markets in the Midwest and Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). ETP hasn’t wasted any time. They already have a number of large customers lined up. The company has also lined up the manufacturer that will produce the 600 miles of pipeline–the largest order for this company in it’s 35-year history…
Read More “ETP Selects Manufacturer for 600 Miles of Pipeline for ET Rover”

| | |

ETP 2Q14: ET Rover Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Already 91% Sold Out

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) recently announced a major new Marcellus/Utica Shale pipeline infrastructure project yesterday that will transport up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of northeast shale gas to markets in the Midwest and Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). ETP provided the following quarterly update yesterday, which includes the interesting tidbit that ETP has already signed up customers for 91% of the available capacity of the ET Rover pipeline when it’s built…
Read More “ETP 2Q14: ET Rover Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Already 91% Sold Out”

| | | | | |

ET Rover Pipeline – The Right Way to Respond When Opposing It

Just about a month ago, MDN brought you the news that Energy Transfer Partners was planning a major new Marcellus/Utica Shale pipeline to transport up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of northeast shale gas to markets in the Midwest and Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). The project includes building 600 miles of 24, 36 or 42-inch pipeline mainly through Ohio and Michigan and into Ontario, Canada. On this side of the border it will be reviewed and permitted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The problem with the pipeline, from landowners’ perspective, is that it will have the power of eminent domain, leaving them with little negotiating power…
Read More “ET Rover Pipeline – The Right Way to Respond When Opposing It”

| | | |

Opposition from Anti Drillers to ET Rover Pipeline in Michigan

Why is it reporters, when writing about proposed pipelines, and talking about the gas that flow through them, always seem to use the same pejorative phrasing. Word for word out of the reporter anti-drilling stylebook it’s usually something like “gas extracted through the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,” as Gannett reporter Keith Matheny writes in the Detroit Free Press when talking about the recently announced ET Rover pipeline from Energy Transfer Partners that will cross Michigan (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). For their part, anti-drillers quoted in such stories always seem to use the same phraseology too…
Read More “Opposition from Anti Drillers to ET Rover Pipeline in Michigan”

| | | | |

Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada

big newsMidstream company Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) announced a major new Marcellus/Utica Shale pipeline infrastructure project yesterday that will transport up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of northeast shale gas to markets in the Midwest and Canada. Dubbed the Rover Pipeline Project, ETP says they already have three important (and big) customers lined up to use the new pipeline system, including Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners, Antero Resources and Range Resources. A binding open season to sign up more customer begins today and runs for a month. The first leg of the new pipeline will connect PA, WV and southeast OH processing plants by crossing Ohio, following an existing pipeline route. A second leg will connect northwestern OH to Canada by slicing up through Michigan. Here’s the particulars, along with a map…
Read More “Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada”

| | | | | | |

Philly Refinery Processes 190K Barrels/Day of Shale Oil

My how times change. A year ago the then-Sunoco Philadelphia refinery was set to close its doors with a loss of 850 jobs. But something happened on the way to closing down: shale. Shale oil, in particular. Today, the refinery is called Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), a joint venture between the  Carlyle Group and Sunoco (Sunoco merged with and is now known as Energy Transfer Partners). As MDN chronicled in July 2012, three shale plays will ultimately play an important role for the refinery–the Bakken, the Marcellus and the Utica (see Sunoco & Carlyle Group Ink Joint Venture for Philly Refinery). However, PES is also eyeing other shale plays, like oil from the Permian Basin (in Texas). That would be a hoot–Pennsylvania refining Texas oil!

More than half of the refinery’s 350,000 barrel per day capacity now comes from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota. How? Mostly by railroad, with the rest by barge. According to PA Gov. Tom Corbett, on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the refinery earlier this week, the Marcellus and Utica will soon play a role at the refinery too: “There’s a pipeline coming over here soon that’s going to be bringing natural gas over. You’re using natural gas now to fuel some of your efforts here but also to create a propane and ethane facility here”…
Read More “Philly Refinery Processes 190K Barrels/Day of Shale Oil”

| |

Stop Press: ETP Acquires Sunoco for $5.3 Billion

stop pressJust this morning Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), a huge pipeline company that owns 23,500 miles of pipelines and gathering systems, including the largest intrastate pipeline in Texas, announced they are buying Sunoco for $5.3 billion. One of the main reasons for the purchase? ETP said they have a growing interest in the Marcellus Shale and they want Sunoco’s assets in the Marcellus region—a sure sign that midstream and downstream will be where the action is for the foreseeable future. Infrastructure to move gas from point A to point B, and even to end users (consumers) will drive much of the activity in the Marcellus. In that light, the buyout/merger makes sense.

Sunoco is not a driller (“upstream”) but instead is mostly a downstream company, owning pipelines, terminals and marketing assets. Sunoco also has a network of approximately 4,900 retail locations in 23 states.

From the press release:

Read More “Stop Press: ETP Acquires Sunoco for $5.3 Billion”