Mountaineer NGL Wants to be THE Appalachian Storage Hub
When the topic of NGL (natural gas liquids) storage comes up with respect to the Marcellus/Utica region, there are two separate and distinct projects mentioned: A massive, $10 billion ethane/NGL storage hub with no specific location identified as yet (but West Virginia often named), and the much smaller Mountaineer NGL storage hub proposed for Monroe County, OH. Recently none other than the U.S. Dept. of Energy issued an NGL primer to call attention to the need for a large NGL storage hub (see DOE Publishes NGL Primer for Marcellus/Utica, Pushes NGL Storage). The Mountaineer project was mentioned in the DOE report. We’ve written plenty about Mountaineer NGL, located just across the river (and border) from West Virginia (see our Mountaineer NGL Storage stories here). What do we know about the proposed Mountaineer NGL Storage project? The Colorado company behind the project plans to spend up to $500 million to build it; some 20 drillers have expressed interest in contracting with the facility to store ethane; and both the nearby PTT Global cracker plant project (if it gets built) and the under-construction Shell cracker plant are both interested in connections to the facility. In November, we learned there is a construction delay until mid-this year (see Yet Another Update on Stalled Mountaineer NGL Storage Proj in OH). We are on record having previously said this: “Could the Mountaineer NGL Storage project end up being THE main NGL project for the entire region, being touted by so many? No. But it is an important project–one of the key pieces of the NGL storage puzzle that will serve our region.” It appears Mountaineer may not agree with our take. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Business Times, Mountaineer makes it clear they want to be THE NGL storage hub for the Marcellus/Utica region. Instead of building a huge $10B project from the start, Mountaineer’s strategy is to grow slow but steady–responding to market conditions along the way. Mountaineer says that’s how it was done in Texas, and that’s how they believe it can (and should) be done in our region…
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Sunoco Logistics Partners continues to feel the heat over their construction of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline project. Most of the heat comes from underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD)–drilling holes to install pipelines under structures like roads and streams, in places where you can’t just dig a trench. The problem is that sometimes the mud used to cool the drill bit for HDD work “leaks” or disappears into cracks and crevices, and sometimes the drilling mud ends up coming back to the surface. It’s called an “inadvertent return.” Bear in mind that drilling mud is otherwise known as bentonite–a nontoxic clay mixture. Bentonite is the same chemical compound used to make kitty litter, toothpaste and all sorts of cosmetics. It’s totally safe for the environment–unless you spill a lot of it and smother little critters like salamanders and fishies. Several Big Green groups sued to stop ME2’s HDD work last year. In August, Sunoco “settled” that lawsuit. The terms of the “settlement” called for Sunoco to reevaluate and resubmit plans for HDD drilling at 47 locations for review by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Since that time more spills have occurred, and keep occurring (see 
Dominion recently received an important approval from Murrysville, PA (Westmoreland County) Council to expand the existing JB Tonkin compressor station. The expansion is part of Dominion’s Supply Header Project, a $500 million project of approximately 38 miles of natural gas pipeline and modified existing compression facilities in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The project will provide natural gas supplies to various customers, including (most importantly) the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) Dominion plans to begin building this year. Some residents resisted the approval voicing concerns about noise. As part of the approval, Dominion agreed to conduct a post-construction noise survey, even though technically they don’t have to. Here’s an update on the Murrysville approval of this important piece of what ultimately will feed ACP…
Schlumberger is the world’s largest oilfield services (OFS) company. Weatherford International is the world’s fourth largest OFS company. They both have operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. We’ve posted a number of stories about Weatherford’s financial troubles–and seemingly inevitable march toward bankruptcy (
PTT Global Chemical, based in Thailand, continues to delay a final investment decision (FID) regarding their much-ballyhooed ethane cracker project in Belmont County, OH. In April 2015, PTT announced they are interested in building a ~$5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see 
Dominion’s $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project recently asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to begin clearing trees along the path of the pipeline in all three states where the pipeline will run: West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. FERC approved the project in October (see 
In July, West Goshen Township, in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester County, won a temporary victory in their efforts to stop Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East 2 (ME2) NGL pipeline in their community (see 
Ridgetop Energy Services, headquartered in Canonsburg, PA, was started in early 2016 by Ridgetop Capital Partners. Ridgetop Capital is an energy and real estate investment firm. Since 2007, Ridgetop Capital has purchased 30,000 acres in the PA, WV and OH, and has invested $130 million in the region (often partnering with big drillers like EQT, Antero, Chesapeake, Range Resources and others). In addition to investing in acreage, Ridgetop also wanted in on some of the drilling action, so the company formed Ridgetop Energy Services in 2016 to buy up service companies that work in the shale space. In June, Ridgetop Energy bought Keystone Wireline (see 
A group of six radical Democrats who oppose the Mariner East 2 pipeline through southeast Pennsylvania met yesterday with Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf to gripe and moan–and to ask Wolf to illegally shut down construction of the pipeline (a pipeline which is now 91% done). Wolf politely listened–and then did nothing. Which is good. The radicals hold out hope that Wolf will change his mind and use his executive authority under Title 35 (dealing with health and safety) as an excuse to shut down all ME2 construction. Good luck with that. A statement issued later in the day by a Wolf spokesman seems to indicate the governor is punting any decisions about shutting down construction over to the Public Utility Commission. Yesterday the PUC vote to allow already-shut-down ME2 construction in one SE PA town to resume (see today’s story, PA PUC Votes to Let ME2 Pipeline Restart Construction in West Goshen). All of which says to us that Wolf won’t do a thing to stop completion of ME2, which angers the radicals all the more…
The Trump Dept. of Energy is hopping on the natural gas liquids storage bandwagon. Yesterday the DOE published a 45-page report called, “Natural Gas Liquids Primer: With a Focus on the Appalachian Region” (full copy below). The DOE uses its own data along with data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (our favorite government agency) to create an up-to-date picture of Appalachian NGL supply, demand, and infrastructure. What does that picture show? It shows we are in desperate need of our own regional NGL storage facilities. No doubt one of the reasons for the report is to goose China into investing in a proposed $10 billion NGL storage plan being pushed by many (see 
Randolph County, WV is about to see some big changes in the coming months. Why? In “early spring” somewhere around 400-1,200 workers will descend on Randolph as work begins to build the mighty $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) being built by Dominion Energy. Members of the Rotary Club of Elkins heard a presentation earlier this week about what to expect when the pipeliners come a callin’. Some of those impacts include: higher traffic levels, more business for restaurants and convenience stores, an uptick in business at local laundromats, and higher occupancy for hotels and apartment buildings. According to Denise Campbell, community liaison for the ACP, “There’s a lot of opportunity.” Here’s a recap of Campbell’s comments to the Rotarians…
Weak-kneed, swamp-dwelling politicians from the Philadelphia area continue to ratchet up the noise on stopping all work for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. State Sen. Andy Dinniman (Democrat from the 19th District) and State Sen. John Rafferty (RINO from the 44th District) say the impacts of ME2’s construction are “unacceptable.” A few of their loudmouthed constituents (mostly likely members of Big Green groups) are complaining to these weak-kneed politicians and in turn the politicians have introduced four new bills in the PA Senate that will not do a @#$% thing about ME2, but will potentially stop future pipeline projects in the state. The aim of the bills is to tie up pipeline projects with so much red tape in various reviews, and by paying new fees for so-called “safety” measures, as to make the pipelines unbuildable. Here’s the latest effort from the Philly area to derail the Marcellus miracle in PA…
For months Dominion’s top brass has signaled that the country’s newest LNG export facility, Cove Point (situated along the coast of Maryland), would begin full commercial operations “by the end of this year” (see 
The Millennium Pipeline stretches ~244 miles from Independence in Steuben County, NY to Buena Vista in Rockland County, NY. The Millennium, which is supplied by local production and storage fields and interconnecting upstream pipelines, serves customers along its route in New York’s Southern Tier region and helps meet the energy needs of northeast markets. In August 2016, the Millennium filed an application for what it calls its Eastern System Upgrade (see