NGLs

Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | New York | NGLs | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY to Cuomo: Authorize Seneca Propane Storage Facility
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

For years MDN has told you about the proposed Inergy (now Crestwood Midstream) plan to open a badly needed underground propane storage facility along the shore of Seneca Lake in New York–in an already depleted salt mining cavern. In March 2013, 12 virulent anti-drilling protesters were arrested for blocking access to the facility–a facility that hasn’t yet been fitted for propane (see NY Protesters Arrested for Blocking NatGas Storage Facility). We’ve also pointed out New Yorkers pay nosebleed rates for propane because our governor refuses to permit the facility (see Northeast Propane Shortage – Andrew Cuomo Partially to Blame). There is a new effort under way to get some action on the Seneca propane storage facility from the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York…
Read More “JLCNY to Cuomo: Authorize Seneca Propane Storage Facility”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Trucking

GreenHunter Launches Hydrocarbon Hauling Subsidiary in Northeast
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

GreenHunter Resources is the frack wastewater hauling subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources. You may recall yesterday’s lead MDN story about dismissed lawsuits for MH (see Magnum Hunter Wins Dismissal in 5 of 6 Lawsuits Alleging Mismgmt). Yesterday GreenHunter issued a press release announcing a new sub-subsidiary: GreenHunter Hydrocarbons. This “grandson” of Magnum Hunter (“son” of GreenHunter) is a new business line for this increasingly complex corporate entity: They’re getting into the business of hauling natural gas liquids (ethane, butane, propane) including condensate and oil…
Read More “GreenHunter Launches Hydrocarbon Hauling Subsidiary in Northeast”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Logsitics CEO Says Legal Issues Won’t Delay Mainer East
May 8, 2014May 8, 2014

Sunoco Logistics held an analyst call yesterday to discuss first quarter 2014 earnings and operations. On the call, Sunoco Logistics’ CEO Michael Hennigan had quite a bit to say about both the Mariner East 1 pipeline, due online starting later this year, and the proposed Mariner East 2 pipeline that would run along side Mariner East 1. MDN has been monitoring the latest legal situation with Mariner East and with Sunoco’s request to be made a public utility corporation (for the latest, see Sunoco Hires Big Gun Law Firms to Help Complete Ethane Pipeline).

MDN found Hennigan’s comments interesting. When asked by an analyst about the NIMBY pushback their getting in building the 50-mile pipeline in western PA, and the pushback on building new compressor stations in eastern PA and whether that would delay or cost the company more money–Hennigan said “no” and that Sunoco is “very confident that we can work through those issues.” Bluster? Brave face for investors? Calm assurance? Who knows. MDN has extracted all of the comments and Q&A’s from yesterday’s call that touch on either the Mariner East 1 or 2, or Mariner West pipeline. We’ve also embedded (below) a copy of the PowerPoint slides used during the call. Pay attention, in particular, to the slides on pages 9, 10 and 11…
Read More “Sunoco Logsitics CEO Says Legal Issues Won’t Delay Mainer East”
Accidents | Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh Angst Over Propane Rail Tanker Cars Exploding
May 7, 2014May 7, 2014

Something has some of the folks in the suburbs of Pittsburgh spooked (likely reckless anti-drilling lies). Yes, the number of rail cars hauling liquefied petroleum gas (i.e., propane) has increased in recent years. But such tanker trains have been around for decades. And yet, the mayor of Carnegie is now calling the tanker trains that pass through town “bombs on wheels.” Pretty strong language. A resident of nearby Green Tree is quoted as saying “someday” there will be an accident and “boom” his house might be gone.

How is that related to Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling? Certainly shale drilling in southwestern PA, northern WV and eastern OH produces plenty of natural gas liquids, one of which is propane. So yes, some of the increase in rail traffic hauling propane through Carnegie comes from northeast shale drilling. But honestly, such tanker cars have been around for years. When was the last time you heard of a propane tanker car exploding? Us either…
Read More “Pittsburgh Angst Over Propane Rail Tanker Cars Exploding”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | NGLs | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Williams

Williams’ Oak Grove, WV De-Ethanizer Operational This Month
May 5, 2014May 5, 2014

Back in February MDN told you about a “superload” or extra-long tractor trailer winding its way through the back roads of West Virginia on it’s way to the Oak Grove process plant (see Williams’ Oak Grove, WV Plant (Slowly) Gets New De-Ethanizer). Two such loads were delivered the plant, taking some three days or more to go 30 miles from the rail yard to the plant. The extra-long loads were de-ethanizers–equipment that will strip ethane from natural gas liquids processed at the plant. The ethane can then be sold via pipeline.

Each ethane superload is some 40 yards–120 feet or about 12 stories–long. Both of them now stand erect in Oak Grove and later this month they will start pumping and separating ethane. Which is good news indeed for drillers in the southwest Marcellus and Ohio Utica areas who can now turn what was an expense (disposing of ethane by burning it or mixing it with other hydrocarbons) to a revenue stream (selling it for some good coin)…
Read More “Williams’ Oak Grove, WV De-Ethanizer Operational This Month”
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Williams

Williams Stops Work on Bluegrass Pipeline, Boardwalk Says “It’s Not Dead”
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

Really big news that affects drilling throughout the Marcellus and Utica Shale region: Williams announced yesterday they are suspending work on the Bluegrass Pipeline, a $1.5 billion project that would have piped natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Utica/Marcellus all the way to Gulf Coast for processing and sale. Looks like we now know who the winner of the “midstream knife fight” is: the Kinder Morgan/MarkWest joint venture UTOPIA pipeline (see “Midstream Knife Fight” – Who Will Have 1st Operational NGL Pipeline to Gulf?). Although Williams says the project is done, their joint venture partner in the Bluegrass, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, says “it’s not dead.” Really? What does that mean?

Below we have the Williams statement that the Bluegrass is dead, the quote from Boardwalk saying it isn’t dead, and our opinion as to what may have pushed Williams to throw in the towel on this very important project, potentially leaving northeast drillers without options for NGLs…
Read More “Williams Stops Work on Bluegrass Pipeline, Boardwalk Says “It’s Not Dead””
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Williams

Boardwalk Talks About Bluegrass: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

Yesterday Boardwalk Pipeline Partners held an analyst call to update investors on their first quarter 2014 performance. As we wrote about a few months ago, Boardwalk’s stock fell off a cliff (down 50%) and is just now beginning to inch it’s way back up the cliff (see Serious Concerns about Boardwalk Pipeline Partners Continue). Yesterday’s analyst call coincided with the release of information that both Williams and Boardwalk, together in a joint venture to build the Bluegrass Pipeline, an important northeast to Gulf Coast NGL pipeline, have decided to suspend work on the pipeline. Williams hints that the project is all but dead, but Boardwalk says it isn’t (see our related story today).

We located the transcript of yesterday’s analyst call with Boardwalk and have extracted out all of the places where the Bluegrass was discussed. It’s interesting reading, providing us with a bit more color and context. For us it evokes Collin Raye’s song, “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It” as we read the comments by Boardwalk and the press release by Williams. Both partners have obviously decided to script the announcement–both are singing from the same song sheet, as it were. The stated reason they’ve stopped working on the Bluegrass? Not enough customer interest. Which, as we point out in today’s related story, we think is sort of bogus. Here’s what was said yesterday on the Boardwalk call about the Bluegrass suspension…
Read More “Boardwalk Talks About Bluegrass: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Northeastern Ohio Benefits from Shale Too, Just Different
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

There’s not much drilling in the Utica Shale in northeastern Ohio, but that doesn’t mean folks in the northern part of the state don’t benefit (and profit) from it. In fact, many in northern Ohio are downright excited about what’s happening in the state. Why? Because the plastics industry, which uses byproducts from natural gas liquids (NGLs) being extracted in Ohio, is taking off like a rocket, providing jobs, products and an economic bonanza in northern Ohio and indeed throughout the state…
Read More “Northeastern Ohio Benefits from Shale Too, Just Different”
EmKey Gathering | Energy Services | Erie County | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants

Western PA/NY Pipeline Company Starts Separating NGLs for More $$
April 21, 2014April 21, 2014

Anticipating that Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling will one day come to northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York, the owner of a pipeline system that services 6,500 older vertical wells in that area has just made an upgrade. EmKey Energy has just opened a new $10 million gas processing plant east of Union City, PA where five of EmKey’s underground pipelines converge. And here is the beauty and the brilliance. That new processing plant does nothing more than separate out natural gas liquids from the incoming stream of gas–NGLs that have been there all along but weren’t economical to separate. Now the plant separates butane, propane and ethane and sells them for bigger money than they would have been sold as part of the methane stream.

According to EmKey’s founder Oivind Risberg, the $10 million upgrade is profitable and doing well. But the real gravy train will arrive when shale drilling enters the area and his pipelines hook up to the deeper Marcellus and Utica Shale. That’s when the really big payoff will happen. Brilliant! Here’s more about EmKey’s “make good money now, but boatloads of it later when shale drilling arrives” strategy…
Read More “Western PA/NY Pipeline Company Starts Separating NGLs for More $$”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Logistics’ New Roadblock in Building Mariner East Pipeline
April 4, 2014April 4, 2014

It appears the PA Supreme Court’s ill-fated decision to toss out zoning provisions in the Act 13 drilling law is now affecting more than just drilling. Sunoco Logistics is trying to build a new natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that spans the state–running from western PA all the way to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia (see Sunoco Logistics Planning Second Mariner East Pipeline for NGLs). MDN reported in January that Sunoco Logistics has a lot riding on a court case in Washington County, PA because they are attempting to use eminent domain to force some landowners to allow the pipeline across their property (see PA Judge Hears Mariner East NGL Pipeline Eminent Domain Case).

We now throw in a new wrinkle for Sunoco Logistics and the Mariner East NGL pipeline: Sunoco Logistics has made a request to the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) to exempt the pipeline from local zoning regulations in building some 31 pump and valve control stations across the length of the pipeline. Based on the PA Supreme Court decision in December, two Philadelphia state senators say Sunoco Logistics does not have the right to be exempted from local zoning…
Read More “Sunoco Logistics’ New Roadblock in Building Mariner East Pipeline”
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NGLs | Pipelines | Regulation | Williams

Kentucky House Votes to End Eminent Domain for Bluegrass Pipeline
March 24, 2014March 24, 2014

The Bluegrass natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline is a $1.5 billion project that will stretch from the Utica/Marcellus all the way to Gulf Coast. It’s being built by Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners and as of last October the joint venture partners held an open season and said everything is on track for a 2015 launch (see Bluegrass Pipeline Launches Open Season, on Track for 2015 Launch). But a lot has happened in the past six months, including Boardwalk’s stock tanking (see Serious Concerns about Boardwalk Pipeline Partners Continue). Not only that, but there’s been a lot of anti-pipeline sentiment in Kentucky–one of the states the new pipeline must cross on its way to the Gulf Coast. So much anti-pipeline sentiment that Boardwalk and Williams have threatened using eminent domain in order to get the property they need for a crossing (see Bluegrass NGL Pipeline’s Eminent Domain Challenged in KY Court).

The eminent domain issue is coming to a head in Kentucky with respect to the Bluegrass Pipeline. Last Friday the KY House voted to approve House Bill (HB) 31 which will strip NGL pipelines of their right to use eminent domain in the state. The measure now heads to the Senate. What are its chances? No one is saying, although Boardwalk and Williams have hired no less than nine lobbyists to make their case with KY lawmakers…
Read More “Kentucky House Votes to End Eminent Domain for Bluegrass Pipeline”
CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

CONSOL to Begin Ethane Shipments Next Year–to Europe?!
February 17, 2014February 17, 2014

CONSOL Energy is a big, important driller in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. Most of their operations are in “wet gas” areas–those locations that produce a lot of natural gas liquids (NGLs), like ethane, along with “dry gas” or methane. Although CONSOL has a lot of acreage in southwestern PA and in WV and eastern OH, the ethane they produce will not be going to a proposed new ethane cracker plant being built by Odebrecht in Parkersburg, WV. Instead, CONSOL is going to send their ethane by pipeline to an export facility in Philadelphia, and from there, on to Europe for processing and use in European petrochemical factories.

Why in the world ship ethane all the way to Europe for processing instead of selling it in your own back yard? Timing. CONSOL doesn’t want to wait the 4-5 years for an ethane cracker to be built (if it’s built at all). They’ve adopted a “bird in hand” strategy. They’d rather start shipping it next year, when Sunoco Logstics’ Mariner East pipeline is up and running, rather than wait. And so CONSOL, according to their announcement below, has locked in a deal with Ineos Europe AG. But don’t despair, CONSOL also previously signed an agreement with Shell to provide its cracker plant in Beaver County, PA with ethane–when and if that plant gets built…
Read More “CONSOL to Begin Ethane Shipments Next Year–to Europe?!”
Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | NGLs | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Williams

Williams’ Oak Grove, WV Plant (Slowly) Gets New De-Ethanizer
February 17, 2014February 17, 2014

The Oak Grove processing plant in Marshall County, WV is about to get its first de-ethanizer, a huge piece of equipment that strips ethane from “wet gas” so it can be sold, via pipeline. Until recently most ethane in the northeast has been a waste product for drillers–something that’s blended with other hydrocarbons or even burned (flared) to get rid of. However, with two new ethane pipelines up and running–one to Sarnia, Canada (Mariner West) and one to the Gulf Coast (ATEX), ethane is a valuable commodity. And so Williams is adding a de-ethanizer to their still-under-construction Oak Grove processing plant.

The de-ethanizer recently arrived by train at Benwood CSX rail yard along the Ohio River. Now the 123-feet long (and 14 feet wide) piece of equipment will go on a very special “superload” truck and it will take 3 days to go just 30 miles to reach the Oak Grove site. If you live in WV, you might want to reconsider plans to travel along routes WV-88 or US-250 later this week, unless you like moving along at 5 miles per hour…
Read More “Williams’ Oak Grove, WV Plant (Slowly) Gets New De-Ethanizer”
Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | New York | NGLs | Pipelines | Regulation | Schuyler County | Statewide NY

NY Senate Bill Forces Cuomo DEC to Authorize New Propane Storage
February 12, 2014February 12, 2014

MDN has long chronicled the struggle for Inergy (now a part of Crestwood Midstream) to turn a depleted salt cavern along Seneca Lake, NY into a critically important underground propane storage facility–the only such new facility planned for the northeast. We’ve also told you about nutty protesters, like so-called “distinguished scholar in residence” at Ithaca College, Sandra Steingraber, who was arrested for blocking the entrance to the facility last year (see NY Protesters Arrested for Blocking NatGas Storage Facility). We even told you which businesses you should consider boycotting for their agitation against the facility (see Inergy: Boycott NY Businesses that Support ‘Gas Free Seneca’). One of the businesses in the list stands out: Pompous Ass Winery, run by…well, you can imagine.

As MDN noted not long ago, the delay in allowing Inergy/Crestwood to begin using the facility to store propane is partially to blame for why northeasterners are now paying propane rates out the nose (see Northeast Propane Shortage – Andrew Cuomo Partially to Blame). Enough dithering by Can’t-Make-a-Decision Cuomo. NY State Senate Energy Committee Chairman George Maziarz, R-Lockport, has introduced a bill that requires the recalcitrant state Dept. of Environmental Conservation to get off the pot and permit the facility…
Read More “NY Senate Bill Forces Cuomo DEC to Authorize New Propane Storage”
Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Invokes Emergency Power to Force Propane Shipments on TEPPCO
February 11, 2014February 11, 2014

Last Friday, for the first time ever, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency charged with approving transmission pipelines for oil and gas across the country, invoked its its emergency authority under the Interstate Commerce Act and directed Enterprise Products Partners to prioritize propane shipments on one of its pipelines that runs from the Gulf Coast to the northeast and Midwest (see map below). The Enterprise TEPPCO (TE Products Pipelines Company) pipeline handles various refined products, including gasoline and natural gas liquids like propane. The order directs Enterprise to prioritize propane shipments beginning yesterday or today and continuing for a week. Last Friday Enterprise told shippers it would inject 150,000 barrels of propane into its pipeline on yesterday (Monday) and 350,000 barrels on Thursday. Enterprise later said they are willing to continue prioritized propane shipments until Feb. 21.

All of this is in response to a developing crisis. More than 20 states have declared a state of emergency due to propane shortages. In some Midwestern states, residents and farms are in danger of running out of propane. Does that justify the federal government stepping in? Did FERC also direct Enterprise to reverse the flow of the newly minted ATEX ethane pipeline that runs from the northeast to the Gulf Coast so it too can carry propane?…
Read More “FERC Invokes Emergency Power to Force Propane Shipments on TEPPCO”
Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | New York | NGLs | Schuyler County | Statewide NY

Northeast Propane Shortage – Andrew Cuomo Partially to Blame
January 24, 2014January 24, 2014

Propane is one of the natural gas liquids (NGLs) that comes out of the ground along with methane (natural gas) in places like southwest PA and eastern OH–otherwise known as “wet gas” areas of the Marcellus and Utica Shale region. There’s been a number of stories recently in the national media about supply shortages of propane. The Pennsylvania Propane Gas Association issued a press release yesterday addressing those concerns–to layout the reasons why propane is in short supply and why prices for it have jumped.

When you read beyond the headlines, you’ll find there’s a pretty simple reason why propane prices have skyrocketed in the northeast and New England–it’s because of New York’s anti-fracking governor Andrew “the ditherer” Cuomo. He’s not only dithering about whether or not to allow fracking, he’s also dithering on whether or not to approve a new propane underground storage facility near Seneca Lake–what the industry terms a “critical” need to relieve propane supply issues in this part of the country. Here’s a good rundown on the current propane supply issues plaguing the U.S., including Cuomo’s hand in it…
Read More “Northeast Propane Shortage – Andrew Cuomo Partially to Blame”