Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania
Energy Transfer Sees Growing NGL Exports from M-U via Marcus Hook
Energy Transfer LP (ET) owns and operates one of the largest and most diversified portfolios of energy assets in the U.S., with approximately 140,000 miles of pipeline and associated energy infrastructure. ET’s strategic network spans 44 states and includes assets in all major U.S. production basins, including the Marcellus/Utica. The company issued its first quarter 2026 update last week. ET sees the Marcellus/Utica region as a key source of NGL supplies for its export operations, particularly exports from the Marcus Hook terminal near Philadelphia. Read More “Energy Transfer Sees Growing NGL Exports from M-U via Marcus Hook”
U.S. natural gas liquids (NGL) exports climbed 7% to 3.1 million barrels per day in 2025, fueled by high domestic production and rising global demand for petrochemical feedstocks. Ethane exports grew 19% due to new international cracker projects, while propane reached a record 1.8 million b/d, supported by significant growth in India. Butane also hit record highs, serving as a vital cooking and industrial fuel in emerging markets like Indonesia and India. While China and Canada remain top destinations, the United States continues to dominate the global market by leveraging low domestic prices to meet diverse international energy needs. NGL exports from the M-U region also hit a new record-high last year. 
Natural gas liquids (NGLs) include “heavier” hydrocarbons that come out of the ground along with methane (CH4). The most prevalent NGL by volume is ethane (C2H6). Another common NGL is propane (C3H8). And yet another is butane (C4H10). Depending on the location, all of those NGLs are produced in abundance in the Marcellus/Utica region. So, it should not come as a surprise that manufacturing plants that use NGLs as feedstock would decide to locate facilities in the region to leverage low-cost NGLs. India-based Thirumalai Chemicals Ltd. (TCL) is moving into pre-commissioning and startup activities at its new manufacturing facility in West Virginia (near Moundsville, Marshall County) and is progressing toward startup operations. 
The mystery may have been solved by MDN… In September 2022, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) voted to extend a permit to build a special LNG export dock along the shoreline of the Delaware River in New Jersey by an extra three years (see 
Last Thursday, energy and labor leaders gathered for the “All About Propane & Energy Reliability” one-day conference, held in Boothwyn, PA (Delaware County, near Philadelphia). The speakers highlighted the significant economic and employment impact of energy production, particularly at the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex. Speakers noted that Pennsylvania is the second-largest natural gas producer, with 12,000 wells producing 7.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas last year. Marcus Hook, originally a crude oil refinery dating to 1901, now exports propane and ethane globally, supporting hundreds of jobs and generating substantial wages and tax revenue. Projects like the Mariner East 1 and 2 pipelines created millions of man-hours for local trades. Panelists emphasized Marcus Hook’s ongoing growth potential and its central role in local and statewide energy development. 
Bloomberg reports that Donald Trump is using our dominance of a niche petroleum gas, ethane, as a bargaining chip in his trade war with China. Last week MDN brought you the news that the Trump U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is blocking at least three (possibly more) cargoes of ethane by rejecting permits to export to Enterprise Products Partners (see 
Three years ago, in May 2022, MDN brought you the surprising news that ethane, propane, and butane (NGLs) were being exported from a facility in Gibbstown, NJ, located along the Delaware River, at a former DuPont dynamite factory site (see 
Two days ago, RBN Energy reported that ethane and butane exports for Enterprise Products Partners and possibly other NGL exporters were in doubt following a notice received by Enterprise from the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) flagging such exports to China as a security risk (see 
RBN Energy is reporting that ethane and butane exports for Enterprise Products Partners and possibly other NGL exporters are in doubt following a notice received from the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) flagging such exports to China as a security risk. Specifically, ethane and butane exports pose an “unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to a military end use.” RBN’s blunt assessment is this: “The BIS decision has the potential to ruin the U.S. ethane market and disrupt global flows.” 
Range Resources issued its first quarter 2025 update yesterday. Range produces a significant volume of NGLs (ethane and propane), in addition to methane (natural gas). Range CEO Dennis Degner told analysts yesterday that, no matter “how the tariff dust settles,” demand is expected to be “relatively strong” for its U.S. East Coast volumes of NGLs. Degner said that 80% of Range’s propane (LPG) production is exported by ship. “And all of it is going to Europe right now,” he said. “So we really don’t have a current exposure to the Chinese market.” Smart company. 
In what has to be the stupidest trade move in history, China will enact an 84% reciprocal tariff on imports of U.S. goods beginning today. The increase was in response to a 104% tariff that the U.S. placed on imports of Chinese goods, which President Trump raised to 125% yesterday. China will LOSE this trade war. However, if the Chinese want to self-immolate their economy and persist with the tariff war, it has the potential, according to RBN Energy, of “destroying” propane and ethane exports from the U.S. Why?