Ethane

Belmont County | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants

Statement from 2nd Company Working on Belmont, OH Ethane Cracker
September 9, 2015September 9, 2015

Last week the CEO of Thailand chemical giant PTT Global flew to Belmont County, OH to announce his company is spending $100 million over the next 9-12 months on preliminary work to build an ethane cracker plant in the county (see PTT Announces 2 Contractors Working on Belmont Cracker Plant). During the announcement, CEO Supattanapong Punmeechaow said his company had awarded contracts to two companies to work on designs for the plant: Fluor Corporation and Bechtel Enterprises. In last week’s article we ran the Fluor “hey, we’re one of the winners” press release. Below is Bechtel’s version of crowing about the project…
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Aither Chemicals | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Whatever Happened to Aither Chemical, WV’s “Small” Cracker Plant?
September 8, 2015September 8, 2015

More than 3 1/2 years ago (in January 2012) MDN told you about a plan in West Virginia to use a process patented by Union Carbide in the 1970s to build an ethane cracker plant on the cheap–much less than the typical “world scale” crackers announced by Shell, Odebrecht and others since that time (see Another New Entrant in the Ethane Cracker Plant Sweepstakes). The company created to build the WV “cheaper” cracker plant was called Aither Chemical, a creating of a non-profit funded, in part, by the State of WV. What ever happened to that project?…
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Belmont County | Energy Services | Ethane | FirstEnergy | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global

300 Acres Next to FirstEnergy Site Part of Belmont Cracker Plan
September 8, 2015September 8, 2015

A few more details about the proposed site for an ethane cracker plant in Belmont County (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). The proposed site is the existing 130-acre R.E. Burger Plant, a coal-fired electric generating plant owned and operated by Ohio utility company FirstEnergy (see FirstEnergy Says Talk of Selling Land for OH Cracker “Premature”). However, we now know that the $5.7 billion chemical complex, to be built by Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical, will require far more than 130 acres. The new ethane cracker facility will require something like 450-500 acres. So where will the other land surrounding the R.E. Burger Plant come from? The nextdoor neighbor…
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Belmont County | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global

PTT Announces 2 Contractors Working on Belmont Cracker Plant
September 4, 2015September 4, 2015

As we told you yesterday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich horned in on a visit by Thailand-based PTT Global CEO Supattanapong Punmeechaow to Belmont County where Punmeechaow announced his company will spend $100 million over the next 9-12 months on a potential ethane cracker plant complex (see PTT CEO Arrives in OH to Announce First $100M for Cracker Plant). PTT has said all along a final decision about whether or not to build the plant won’t happen until 2016 or 2017. Gov. Kasich has a bit more cheery (Pollyanna?) perspective, saying in baseball terms the project is already rounding third base and heading toward home plate. We hope he’s right, but we’ve been led down the primrose path before when it comes to cracker projects (cough *Odebrecht* cough). We do know the name for two of the companies that will receive at least some of (perhaps most of) the $100 million PTT is spending over the next year…
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Belmont County | Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants

PTT CEO Arrives in OH to Announce First $100M for Cracker Plant
September 3, 2015September 4, 2015

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is having trouble getting anyone to notice he’s running for president (predictably, nobody cares when an establishment RINO runs), will swoop in at a press conference today at 3 pm in Belmont County, OH to announce that foreigners from Thailand-based PTT Global and Marubeni Corp. of Tokyo will drop $100 million on Ohio to conduct engineering and design work for a previously announced potential ethane cracker plant in the county (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). Kasich doesn’t like “foreigners” from exotic places like Texas and Oklahoma working in the oil and gas fields of Ohio (see Ohio Gov. John Kasich Jazzed About Chesapeake Striking Oil in the Utica Shale – Refers to Potential Out-of-State Workers as “Foreigners” and OH Gov. Kasich Continues Trash Talk Out-of-State Workers). But if you’re a foreigner from, you know, a foreign country? And you have a few billion dollars to drop in the state? That’s A.O.K. for the son of a postal worker turned Congressman turned career politician turned RINO turned governor. But let’s not get lost in the tortured politics of John Kasich. Let’s celebrate the fact that PTT Global CEO Supattanapong Punmeechaow, from Thailand, is flying over to attend today’s announcement. That’s a very positive sign indeed that this potential $5 billion project, which we’re now reading has been upgraded closer to $6 billion, is on track to become a reality…
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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell Begins Building Bridge to PA Cracker Plant Site
September 2, 2015September 2, 2015

Shell continues to act as if it has already made the decision to build a $2-$3 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Beaver County, PA, even though they continue to refuse to say they’ve made a decision. What’s our evidence? In June Shell finally purchased the land where the cracker will be built, the former Horsehead zinc smelter property in Potter that will be the primary location of the cracker plant IF it gets built (see Shell Buys Beaver County, PA Property for Future Cracker Plant). Also in June Shell received an air quality permit from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (see Shell Receives Air Quality Permit from PA DEP for Cracker Plant), a critical authorization for them to proceed. The latest evidence? Shell just began construction of a bridge to haul dirt over a major highway without disrupting traffic…
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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Human Skulls & Bones Found at Shell PA Ethane Cracker Site
August 21, 2015August 21, 2015

Yes, despite oil prices in the basement and despite Shell’s announcement they are laying off 6,500 people worldwide and reducing spending by $7 billion *this year* (see Shell Lays Off 6,500 Worldwide – But Where?), despite all of that, Shell continues to work to prepare the future site of an ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA. How do we know? In their digging at the site, workers for Shell have unearthed human skulls and other bones, likely from an old family cemetery that somebody long forgot about…
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Beaver County | Electrical Generation | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell Will Build Gas-Fired Electric Plant to Power PA Cracker
July 24, 2015July 24, 2015

If Shell builds an ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA, as they’ve been teasing since 2011, the massive plant will require a lot of electricity to power it–enough electricity to power 100,000 homes. Shell does not plan to just hook up to the local utility for its electricity. Instead, they will build their own natural gas-powered electric generating plant on location. Any electricity they generate but can’t use will be sold to the local power grid…
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Axiall | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants

4th World Class Marcellus/Utica Ethane Cracker…in Louisiana??
July 14, 2015July 14, 2015

According to the The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register, yet another new ethane cracker project is being planned that will be fed by Marcellus and Utica Shale ethane. Currently there is one serious proposal that increasingly seems like it will happen (Shell’s cracker plant in Beaver County, PA), one somewhat serious proposal (joint venture between Korean company PTT Global Chemical and Japanese financier Marubeni for a plant in Belmont County, OH), and one not-so-serious proposal (Brazilian company Odebrecht building a plant near Parkersburg, WV). This would be the fourth “world class” ethane cracker plant to be fed by Marcellus/Utica ethane–if it gets built. And where would it be built? Louisiana. Which doesn’t create jobs or improve the economy in the Marcellus/Utica region–hence our less-than-enthusiastic response to the news. Atlanta-based Axiall Corporation is partnering with Korean company Lotte Chemical Corporation to potentially build a new ethane cracker in the Lake Charles, LA area. Anticipated start-up would be the end of 2018, if the project goes forward…
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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell Greenlights Offshore Platform – Good Sign for PA Cracker?
July 2, 2015July 2, 2015

Time, once again, to haul out the tea leaves to see if there’s anything we can divine from an announcement yesterday by Shell that they’ve made a “final investment decision” (or FID) to move forward with a multi-billion dollar project to build a new deep-water offshore drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. What in the world does that have to do with the Marcellus/Utica? Good question! Let us read the tea leaves and connect some dots for you…
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CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Crude Oil | Decline/Depletion Rates | Economic Impact | Education | Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | M&A | NGLs | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation | Research | Reserves (Proved and Unproved)

Join MDN at RBN Energy’s “Summer in the City” Event July 23 – NYC
June 30, 2015July 9, 2015

MDN invites you to join us in attending RBN Energy’s “State of the Energy Markets” one-day event in New York City on July 23. Before you hurry to say “yes,” a few caveats. It costs money (a lot of it). It’s aimed at executives working in the industry, as well as traders and investors. If that describes you (and we know that many of you read MDN), you may be interested in attending. We guarantee it will be a great event. Rusty Braziel & company will provide an overview of the key issues facing natural gas, NGLs and the crude oil market. They will explain how the markets for those three commodities interact and affect each other. They will also take a look at prices, where they may be heading, and how infrastructure affects price. If you are really “into energy” as we are, this is a must attend event. Details are below, along with a link to register…
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Belmont County | Energy Services | Ethane | FirstEnergy | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants

FirstEnergy Confirms Their Site is Future Home of OH Cracker
June 24, 2015June 24, 2015

More cracker plant talk. Yesterday we told you that Shell has received the air quality permit they need from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (see Shell Receives Air Quality Permit from PA DEP for Cracker Plant), moving that ethane cracker plant project significantly closer to reality. We also told you that the president and CEO of Odebrecht, the Brazilian company planning to build a cracker plant in WV, has been arrested in a bribery scandal (see Odebrecht CEO Arrested; What Does it Mean for WV Cracker Plant?), making that ethane cracker project less likely, in our humble opinion. The third major ethane cracker in the Marcellus/Utica is planned for Belmont County, OH. PTT Global Chemical, Thailand’s largest integrated petrochemical and refining company, with financial backing from Marubeni Corporation, a Japan-based company conglomerate, plans to build a cracker plant complex in Ohio (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). It has been an “open secret” the site for the plant would be at FirstEnergy Corp’s R.E. Burger power plant site along the banks of the Ohio River. FirstEnergy has, until now, denied they are selling the site. But a FirstEnergy official in a round-about way has just confirmed that yes, IF the cracker plant project gets built, it likely will get built at the R.E. Burger site…
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Air Quality | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Regulation | Shell | Statewide PA

Shell Receives Air Quality Permit from PA DEP for Cracker Plant
June 23, 2015June 23, 2015

Finally, after months and months of waiting, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has granted an air quality permit that allows Shell to operate a proposed ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA. MDN told you the DEP signaled they would approve the air quality permit back in March (see PA DEP Signals Approval for Shell Ethane Cracker Air Quality Plan). Three months later the DEP finally issued the permit–no small miracle given the agency is now run by PennFuture DEP Sec. John Quigley. Shell had stated getting the permit would be a “critical” step in the process to moving forward. Now that they have the permit, what kinds of encouraging words do we have from Shell? The permit “does not mean we have made a final decision to build the project.” Which is the same standard line they’ve delivered since 2011 when this whole process began (see Shell Commits to Building a Billion Dollar Chemical Plant in the Marcellus Region of U.S.). Four years of being teased with this project has led us to think we’ve contracted post traumatic cracker disorder (PTCD)…
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Braskem | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Wood County

Odebrecht CEO Arrested; What Does it Mean for WV Cracker Plant?
June 23, 2015June 23, 2015

Scandal has rocked Odebrecht, the Brazilian company that in November 2013 announced it wants to build a $4 billion ethane cracker plant complex near Parkersburg, WV (see WV Announces Brazilian Company to Build Ethane Cracker Complex). Marcelo Odebrecht, president and CEO of Odebrecht SA–one of the largest construction companies in South America–was recently arrested for being part of a plan that stole “billions of dollars” from Brazil’s state-run Petrobras oil company. His arrest raises legitimate questions about the viability of the proposed Parkersburg ethane cracker project. We can all pretend that the arrest of the CEO of the company proposing to build the plant has little or no effect on the future of the project–but we’re not children. So let’s not pretend. What do you think is occupying Mr. Odebrecht’s attention these days–building a petrochemical plant in far-off West Virginia, or staying out of jail?…
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Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County

WV Gov Tomblin Not Ready to Give Up on Odebrecht Ethane Cracker
June 23, 2015June 23, 2015

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, the man who has worked hard to land an ethane cracker plant for his state, is still hopeful that WV will get them a cracker. In a wide-ranging talk at the Wheeling Rotary Club on Monday, Tomblin said Odebrecht, the Brazilian company that announced its interest in building an ethane cracker complex near Parkersburg, WV, continues to move forward with the project–“but at a slower pace.” That certainly is a bit of good news. We’ve not heard anything about Odebrecht advancing the ball on their project since the company announced in April, “the original configuration…needs to be re-evaluated, and a final investment decision on the project will require more diligence.” We took that to mean they’ve hit the pause button (see Odebrect Pushes the Pause Button on WV Ethane Cracker). But Tomblin and his administration don’t view it the same way. Instead of hitting the brakes, Tomblin says Odebrecht has simply reduced pressure on the gas pedal a bit…
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Beaver County | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Are OH Officials Worried about Shell’s PA Ethane Cracker? Nope
June 22, 2015June 22, 2015

In April Ohio officials announced Belmont County, OH has been chosen as the site of a potential ethane cracker plant (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). Which led us to admit that since we’ve been teased with a cracker for over three years now–with NO ONE actually committing to such a plant–we’re experiencing “cracker fatigue.” But not long after Shell made some serious moves toward committing to build a cracker plant in western Pennsylvania, not far from Pittsburgh. The most recent positive sign is that Shell finally, after three years of faffing about, earlier this month purchased the property the plant would be built on (see Shell Buys Beaver County, PA Property for Future Cracker Plant). Does a Shell cracker reduce the likelihood of an cracker plant being built less than two hours away in Belmont County, OH? Not according to officials in Ohio. In fact, they’re not worried at all…
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