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FERC Approves Rover Pipe Connection to ET Revolution Cryo Plant

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was busy last Thursday during its latest open meeting. Not only did the commissioners approve an expansion for Elba Island LNG, they also approved a meter station project that will connect the Rover pipeline in Washington County, PA, to Energy Transfer’s Revolution Cryogenic Facility, a facility that extracts natural gas liquids (NGLs) from field gas and partially fractionates mixed NLGs to produce natural gas products like ethane. Read More “FERC Approves Rover Pipe Connection to ET Revolution Cryo Plant”

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MPLX “Sweet Spot” is Processing M-U Rich Gas and Producing NGLs

Greg Floerke

In late 2015, MPLX (i.e., Marathon Petroleum) bought out and merged with the Utica Shale’s premier midstream company, MarkWest Energy, for $15 billion (see MarkWest Energy Investors/Unitholders Approve Merger with Marathon). The “new” MarkWest, aka MPLX, plays on a much larger stage now, including ownership and operation of major assets in the Permian Basin and the Bakken Shale, in addition to the Marcellus/Utica. However, the company’s first love, Marcellus/Utica, still plays a starring role. Greg Floerke, the executive vice president and COO of MPLX, sat for an interview with Hart Energy editorial director Jordan Blum at the company’s recent DUG Appalachia event in Pittsburgh. Read More “MPLX “Sweet Spot” is Processing M-U Rich Gas and Producing NGLs”

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U.S. and M-U Ethane Production Reached Record High in 1H24

U.S. ethane production increased steadily over the last decade and reached a record of 3.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in May 2024. Ethane production in the first half of 2024 (1H24) averaged a record 2.8 million b/d, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Petroleum Supply Monthly. Ethane production in the Marcellus/Utica region (called the Appalachian No. 1 refining district), which straddles most of the Appalachian Basin production area in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, increased during 1H24, averaging 327,000 b/d, up from 292,000 b/d in 1H23. Read More “U.S. and M-U Ethane Production Reached Record High in 1H24”

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Price for Ethane Dips Below NatGas for First Time in 2024

Ethane molecule (C2H6)

Ethane is an interesting NGL (natural gas liquid). It’s one of the compounds that comes out of the ground as a gas along with methane. Ethane gas can be liquefied under pressure or at reduced temperatures and separated from methane (natural gas). However, liquefied ethane is not burned, like another NGL called propane. Instead, liquefied ethane is used as a feedstock in big cracker plants like the Shell cracker in Monaca, PA. The ethane is “cracked” and turned into plastics. However, if the price ethane fetches is lower than the cost of methane, the ethane gas is left in the methane gas stream and burned along with methane (called “rejection”). The analysts at RBN Energy have noticed that the price of ethane is now below the price of natgas and theorize more ethane rejection (leaving it in the methane stream) may be on the way.
Read More “Price for Ethane Dips Below NatGas for First Time in 2024”

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UGI Concludes Review, Decides to Keep AmeriGas Propane Subsidiary

UGI, a diversified energy company with midstream (pipeline) operations in the Marcellus and one of PA’s largest utility companies, hinted last summer that it was looking to sell or spin off its propane subsidiary into a new company (see UGI Signals Looking to Sell or Spin-Off AmeriGas Propane Subsidiary). UGI’s propane subsidiary is AmeriGas, the nation’s largest retail propane marketer, serving nearly 1.3 million customers in all 50 states from approximately 1,400 locations. In UGI’s first quarter update issued yesterday, the company said after an extensive review, it has decided to keep AmeriGas.
Read More “UGI Concludes Review, Decides to Keep AmeriGas Propane Subsidiary”

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U.S. LPG, LNG Exports Hit Record High; Freeport Restarts Train 3

According to S&P Global and its crack statistics unit, U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, mostly propane) exports both hit new all-time record highs for the period of Jan. 1 through April 29 this year. And that’s despite the fact that the Freeport LNG export facility has experienced a major outage since January. And speaking of the problem-plagued Freeport facility, one of its three trains, Train 3, received around 830 MMcf of natural gas yesterday. Meaning it’s back online. Finally. Up down, up down, up down. Now, up again.
Read More “U.S. LPG, LNG Exports Hit Record High; Freeport Restarts Train 3”

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U.S. Ethane Production, Consumption, Exports Set New Records 2023

The production of ethane in the U.S. — one of several natural gas liquids (NGLs) that come out of the ground when drilling both oil and gas wells — rose 9% in 2023 to a new record high of 2.6 million barrels per day (b/d), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Record ethane production was a result of the boom in natural gas production and the addition of two new ethane cracker plants coming online, one in Texas and the other in Pennsylvania.
Read More “U.S. Ethane Production, Consumption, Exports Set New Records 2023”

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LPG & Ethane Shipments Thru Panama Canal Pick Up in January

Last November, MDN warned you about delays with LPG (propane) and LNG ships transiting the Panama Canal (see Drought Along Panama Canal Causing Delays in Propane, LNG Exports). According to the Panama Canal Authority (APC), water levels at Gatún Lake were the lowest since at least 1995 due to an extended dry season and lower-than-normal precipitation on the Panama Canal. Gatún Lake is the artificial lake that vessels pass through to transit between the Atlantic and Pacific locks, and it holds the water supply needed to operate the lock systems of the canal. The situation got to the point that the APC began auctioning slots to use the canal (see LNG Vessels Transiting Panama Canal Must Use Auction for Time Slots). Good news! While the drought continues, it’s less worse than it was, and U.S. energy shipments through the Canal have increased once again.
Read More “LPG & Ethane Shipments Thru Panama Canal Pick Up in January”

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Record High NGL Exports from Marcus Hook, ET Expanding Facility

Marcus Hook Marine Terminal Near Philadelphia. Source: Energy Transfer

Pipeline giant Energy Transfer (ET), owner of the Mariner East Pipeline system, the Marcus Hook NGL terminal, and the Rover pipeline in the Marcellus/Utica region, issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update yesterday. Net income for 4Q23 was $1.57 billion, up 9% from 4Q22’s $1.44 billion. However, net income for 2023 was $5.29 billion, down 10% from 2022’s $5.87 billion. ET is a big company with assets in many oil and gas regions of the U.S. Of interest for us were the comments about the Marcus Hook NGL terminal and its exports.
Read More “Record High NGL Exports from Marcus Hook, ET Expanding Facility”

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LNG Vessels Transiting Panama Canal Must Use Auction for Time Slots

Three weeks ago, MDN warned you about delays with LPG (propane) and LNG ships transiting the Panama Canal (see Drought Along Panama Canal Causing Delays in Propane, LNG Exports). According to the Panama Canal Authority (APC), water levels at Gatún Lake are the lowest since at least 1995 due to an extended dry season and lower-than-normal precipitation on the Panama Canal. Gatún Lake is the artificial lake that vessels pass through to transit between the Atlantic and Pacific locks, and it holds the water supply needed to operate the lock systems of the canal. The situation has grown even more dire in just the last three weeks…
Read More “LNG Vessels Transiting Panama Canal Must Use Auction for Time Slots”

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Drought Along Panama Canal Causing Delays in Propane, LNG Exports

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In early October, we brought you the news that propane (C3H8) was the most-exported U.S. petroleum product in the first half of 2023, averaging 1.5 million barrels per day (b/d), continuing a trend that began in 2020 (see Propane #1 Most Exported U.S. Petroleum Product First Half 2023). U.S. propane exports have been driving increased U.S. petroleum product exports for the past four years. Part of the propane export success story is right here in the Marcellus/Utica (see Marcus Hook Propane Exports Heat Up). However, there is a problem with propane (and even LNG) exports. The Panama Canal, a key link between the U.S. and Japan where much of our propane is shipped, is facing the worst drought in the Canal’s 120-year history.
Read More “Drought Along Panama Canal Causing Delays in Propane, LNG Exports”

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Propane #1 Most Exported U.S. Petroleum Product First Half 2023

Although we have a companion story from today’s lineup that criticizes the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) for its powers to predict the future (see EIA Consistently Underestimates NatGas Needed for Power Generation), the EIA is unparalleled in its tracking and reporting of historical energy data. The expert number crunchers of the EIA recently turned their eyes on U.S. petroleum exports and found that these types of exports (including NGLs) set a new record high in the first half of 2023.
Read More “Propane #1 Most Exported U.S. Petroleum Product First Half 2023”

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PA DEP Considers Plan to Expand ET’s Marcus Hook Ethane Chilling

On February 14, 2022, Energy Transfer Marketing & Terminals, L.P. (ETMT) applied to expand the company’s ethane chilling capacity at the Marcus Hook Terminal (MHT) from approximately 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) to approximately 85,000 bpd. Because the facility is located in a so-called Environmental Justice (EJ) area, the DEP is conducting an even more painful anal exam (than usual) before issuing a permit for the expansion. Part of that examination will be a public hearing on Sept. 19, 2023, in Boothwyn, PA, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Read More “PA DEP Considers Plan to Expand ET’s Marcus Hook Ethane Chilling”

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UGI Signals Looking to Sell or Spin-Off AmeriGas Propane Subsidiary

UGI, a diversified energy company with midstream (pipeline) operations in the Marcellus and one of PA’s largest utility companies, is looking to sell or spin off its propane subsidiary into a new company. UGI’s propane subsidiary is AmeriGas, the nation’s largest retail propane marketer, serving nearly 1.3 million customers in all 50 states from approximately 1,400 locations. This is pretty big news in our book.
Read More “UGI Signals Looking to Sell or Spin-Off AmeriGas Propane Subsidiary”

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Illinois Prof Discovers Way to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Propane

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Something crossed our desk that we consider pretty cool. A professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology recently published a paper in the journal Nature Energy that reveals a promising breakthrough in “green” energy. The prof and SHV Energy created an electrolyzer device capable of converting carbon dioxide into propane in a way that is both scalable and cost-effective. The good prof’s invention won’t win him any friends among the irrational left that hates all fossil fuels, including propane. It makes no difference that his system can capture and use any CO2 emitted by burning propane to create more propane. If it’s a fossil fuel, it’s evil (for the left). For the rest of us, it’s an interesting and useful invention.
Read More “Illinois Prof Discovers Way to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Propane”

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How M-U NGLs Get Exported – ET’s Mariner Pipelines & Marcus Hook

NGLs, or natural gas liquids, are an essential revenue stream for Marcellus/Utica drillers in the “wet gas” regions of the play. Those regions are found in southwestern Pennsylvania, the northern panhandle of West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. There are several pipelines that flow M-U NGLs to other regions or to export facilities. Among them is Enterprise Products Partners’ 1,230-mile Appalachia to Texas Express (ATEX) pipeline to the Gulf Coast, and Kinder Morgan’s 270-mile Utica-to-Ontario-Pipeline-Access (UTOPIA) pipeline from Harrison County, Ohio, to Windsor in Canada’s Ontario province. However, most M-U NGLs travel through Energy Transfer’s Mariner East and West pipelines, with Mariner East flowing to the Marcus Hook export terminal near Philadelphia.
Read More “How M-U NGLs Get Exported – ET’s Mariner Pipelines & Marcus Hook”