Marathon Petroleum’s Newly Announced “Cornerstone” Utica Pipeline
Another new pipeline is on the way in the Utica Shale. This one will be built by Marathon Petroleum Corporation, the largest refiner in the Utica Shale region. The Cornerstone pipeline, as they’re calling it, will stretch nearly 50 miles from the MarkWest cryogenic processing plant in Cadiz, OH northwest connecting to M3’s fractionator plant in Scio and M3’s cryogenic processing plant in Leesville along the way as it terminates and connects to Marathon’s refinery in Canton, OH (see map below). The pipeline will carry, at various times, crude oil, condensate and natural gasoline.
The Cornerstone pipeline is slated to be built and in operation in 2016, according to Marathon officials. Here’s what Garry Peiffer, President of Marathon’s Master Limited Partnership MPLX GP said about the Cornerstone project on an analyst call yesterday:
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Yesterday West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin was flanked by representatives from Brazilian chemical company Odebrecht to announce the company has chosen a site near Parkersburg, WV (third largest city in the state) to be the potential site of an ethane cracker plant complex. The complex will have an ethane cracker, three polyethylene plants and infrastructure for water treatment and energy co-generation. Gov. Tomblin was justifiably proud to make the announcement, calling it a “game changer” for West Virginia. He’s right.