Energy Services

EMG | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pipelines | Processing Plants

MarkWest Pays $1.8B to Buy Out JV Partner in Liberty Midstream
December 13, 2011December 13, 2011

MarkWest Energy announced yesterday it will pay $1 billion in cash and 19.95 million new Class B MarkWest units (worth an estimated $750 million to $850 million) to buy out joint venture partner Energy and Minerals Group’s (EMG) 49 percent interest in MarkWest Liberty Midstream. The Liberty Midstream joint venture was formed in May 2009 to focus on construction and operation of midstream services in support of Marcellus shale gas production, including pipelines to gather natural gas, facilities to process it, and transportation to get it to market.

Although MarkWest is buying out EMG’s interest in the Liberty joint venture, the two companies will create a new Utica Shale midstream joint venture in eastern Ohio in 2012 as part of the deal.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide PA

Spectra Gets FERC Approval to Expand PA Marcellus Pipeline
December 5, 2011December 5, 2011

Spectra Energy has received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval for their Texas Eastern Appalachia to Market (TEAM) 2012 pipeline expansion project which expands Texas Eastern’s existing pipeline system and allows them to deliver extra Marcellus Shale gas to the northeast market in the U.S. A map detailing the existing pipeline and the proposed upgrades is embedded below.

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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Work on New Ethane Pipeline to Gulf Coast Now Underway in OH
November 28, 2011November 28, 2011

Survey work in central Ohio has already begun on a new ethane pipeline to be built by Enterprise Products Partners. The pipeline, which was recently announced (see this MDN story), will reach from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region in Washington County, PA all the way to Cape Girardeau, MO where it will connect with an existing pipeline to the Gulf Coast. Surveyors for the new pipeline have already turned up in Fairfield County, OH.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Tennesee Gas Pipeline Receives Approval for Northeast Upgrade
November 22, 2011November 22, 2011

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) yesterday approved a request by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company to upgrade its Northeast Project with construction of extra pipeline loops in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as compressor plant upgrades in both states. The end result will be an extra 636,000 dekatherms of gas delivered per year in the important northeast market—most of it Marcellus Shale gas.

From the FERC press release:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Laser Northeast Gathering | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

PA Pipeline Allowed to Withdraw Public Utility Application
November 11, 2011November 11, 2011

Laser Northeast Gathering is a 30-mile, $55 million pipeline being built from Susquehanna County, PA to across the border in Broome County, NY. When complete, the pipeline will connect wells in Susquehanna County with the Millennium Pipeline which runs through Broome County. As MDN previously reported, Laser Northeast had filed for public utility status and then eventually withdrew that application when the need for eminent domain was no longer necessary.

The final chapter in that story is now written. The PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday voted to officially allow Laser Northeast to withdraw the application they had once submitted.

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Is Chesapeake’s Ethane Pipeline Deal a Negotiating Tactic?
November 10, 2011November 10, 2011

Last week, MDN reported that officials in West Virginia were angry with Chesapeake Energy over their decision to sign a contract to ship ethane out of the Marcellus region for processing in the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story). Specifically, state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said the deal may jeopardize the state’s chances of attracting a cracker plant—a facility that processes ethane into ethylene, the raw material used to make plastics. The chief complaint was that Chesapeake has been part of negotiations to bring such a plant to the region but at the same time were silent about their impending deal with Enterprise Products Partners to lease a pipeline to move ethane out of the area.

Chesapeake has responded to the criticism and says its deal with Enterprise has been “misunderstood.” A recent statement from Chesapeake seems to indicate the deal to ship ethane via pipeline is a negotiating tactic to get the best price for their ethane. Other industry sources are sticking up for Chesapeake and say the deal is certainly not a “cracker killer.”

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Caiman Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Roads | West Virginia

Energy Company Takes to the Sky to Move Utility Poles
November 10, 2011November 10, 2011

Caiman Energy has found a novel way of moving large steel utility poles (electric poles) that it needs to install to bring in more power to a natural gas processing plant located at Fort Beeler near Cameron (Marshall County), WV. To address concerns over truck traffic and damage to roads, Caiman is using helicopters to shuttle the utility poles.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Preferred Fluids Management | Richland County | Wastewater

Mansfield OH Getting Two New Wastewater Injection Wells
November 10, 2011November 10, 2011

Looks like two more injection wells are coming to Ohio. These new wells will be built near Mansfield (Richland County), Ohio and are specifically designed to handle 200,000 gallons of fracking wastewater per day from Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling operations.

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El Paso | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | MarkWest Energy | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

How Many Ethane Pipelines will the Marcellus Shale Support?
November 8, 2011November 8, 2011

In yesterday’s Pittsburgh Business Times, reporter Anya Litvak does a good job of analyzing the prospects for various ethane pipelines that may (or may not) be constructed from the Marcellus region to other geographies in order to process the ethane into ethylene (a raw material used in making plastics). She keyed off the news that the joint venture from El Paso Corp. and Spectra Energy to build a Marcellus Ethane Pipeline Systems (MEPS) didn’t attract enough interest for it to go forward.

However, as MDN mentioned yesterday, Enterprise Products Products is building an ethane pipeline and Chesapeake Energy will be its first customer (see this MDN story). That pipeline is due to go in service in 2014.

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Officials Angry with Chesapeake Over Ethane Pipeline Deal
November 7, 2011November 7, 2011

State officials in West Virginia are angry with Chesapeake Energy over the announcement that Chesapeake has signed a deal to ship ethane out of the Marcellus region via pipeline to the Gulf Coast for processing. A quick petrochemical lesson: Some of what comes out of the ground when drilling for natural gas is the chemical compound ethane—especially found in “wet gas” areas of the Marcellus like West Virginia. Ethane can be processed into ethylene, which is the raw material used to make plastics.

West Virginia and Pennsylvania have been heavily courting Shell and at least one other unnamed company to build a “cracker plant” to process the ethane (crack it) into ethylene. Building a cracker plant in the region would attract thousands of jobs and billions of initial investment, and billions in revenue from associated plastics industries that would sprout up around the plant. It’s like winning the biggest imaginable lottery jackpot when it comes to jobs, money and tax revenue.

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Chesapeake First Customer for Ethane Pipeline to Gulf Coast
November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

Looks like Enterprise Products’ plan to build an ethane pipeline from the Marcellus and Utica Shales to the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story) is already paying off. Chesapeake Energy is the first company to commit to using the pipeline, which is due to be completed and in service by 2014.

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Energy Services | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Looking to Invest in Marcellus & Utica Midstream
November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

Sunoco is getting out of the refinery business by July of next year and is instead looking to expand its investment in midstream businesses, including pipelines, terminals and storage, in addition to its retail outlets. Sunoco is particularly interested in opportunities in the Marcellus and Utica Shales.

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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Enterprise Wants to Build Ethane Pipeline to Gulf Coast
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is planning to build a major new pipeline to transport ethane from the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The second largest component (by volume) to come out of the ground in shale gas drilling is the chemical ethane. Somewhere between one and six percent of natural gas coming from the ground is ethane, which can be converted to the hydrocarbon ethylene. Ethylene is the “feedstock” (or raw material) used to make most plastics, including polyethylene and PVC. Enterprise wants to provide a way for ethane to reach the ethylene processing plants along the Gulf Coast.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Patriot Water Treatment | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Warren OH Fracking Wastewater Treatment Plant Future in Doubt
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

The future of wastewater treatment plant in Warren (Trumbull County), Ohio that handles fracking wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling is now in doubt. The state attorney general has ruled that the permit granted to the Patriot Water Treatment plant in Warren was granted illegally.

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El Paso | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Tennessee Gas ‘300 Line’ Pipeline Now Complete & Flowing
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company finished its "300 Line" project Tuesday and started natural gas flowing through the new pipes. The expanded pipeline is an important part of the delivery infrastructure for moving Marcellus Shale gas to market in the northeastern U.S.

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Casella-Altela | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | McKean County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

New “Green” Fracking Wastewater Plant in McKean County, PA
November 1, 2011November 1, 2011

A new Marcellus wastewater treatment facility is coming to McKean County, PA, and by using a local railroad spur, owners of the new facility hope to service a large area of Pennsylvania and eventually New York, reducing truck traffic. The facility will use methane from a local landfill for power instead of electricity. Low-grade heat (from the methane) is used to process the wastewater, making it an “environmentally friendly” alternative technology.

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