PA PUC Proposes New Regs for Pipelines – Landmen Must be Licensed
More than two years after eliciting comments on new regulations for hazardous liquid pipelines in Pennsylvania, the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) unveiled proposed rules that will apply to intrastate pipelines transporting gasoline, petroleum, crude oil, and natural gas liquids like ethane. We have a copy of the PUC’s proposal below. The new regulations would apply to the Mariner East (ME) system and Buckeye Partners’ Laurel Pipeline, which carries petroleum across the state. Landmen beware: Among the changes proposed by the PUC is a requirement that you must be licensed if you work on a liquids pipeline project.
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We’re always jazzed when we unearth information related to the Marcellus/Utica nobody else has yet discovered or highlighted. We think we’ve found something interesting related to a recently updated spreadsheet maintained by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). On Friday the EIA published a post to trumpet the news that 19 “liquids” pipeline projects are “moving toward completion in 2021.” In reviewing the list we discovered two projects related to the M-U in 2021, and a third M-U project coming in 2022. All three have an impact on the ability of M-U drillers to move NGL’s out of our region to higher-paying markets.
NGL (natural gas liquid) revenues for U.S. drillers soared in the first quarter of 2021–up 100% (i.e. doubled) over the same quarter in 2020, which was the quarter when COVID-19 began to seep into the public consciousness. In particular international demand for U.S. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, or propane) helped propel NGL revenues higher in 1Q21. Guess which company posted the highest year-over-year increases for both NGL prices and revenues?
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2020 U.S. exports of propane reached record levels, increasing 13% and surpassing distillate fuel oil as the country’s top petroleum product export. U.S. exports of distillate fuel oil fell to its lowest level since 2016. Propane is one of the NGLs produced in (and exported from) the Marcellus/Utica.
Last fall Mountaineer NGL Storage, a $500 million project in Monroe County, OH to build underground storage for ethane and other NGLs, asked Ohio regulators to cancel a key permit for the project (see 
Last fall Mountaineer NGL Storage, a $500 million project in Monroe County to build underground storage for ethane and other NGLs, asked Ohio to cancel a key permit for the project (see 
Over the years we’ve sometimes heard from readers, or read comments from trade associations, making the argument that by exporting our natural gas we are raising the price of natgas domestically. Shouldn’t we keep all the gas for ourselves and keep prices low (see 
New England “doesn’t produce a barrel of crude oil, a gallon of NGLs, or a cubic foot of natural gas.” All of the considerable quantity of fossil fuels the region uses for energy must be brought in–by pipeline (very few pipelines), truck, ship, or rail. Propane is one of the primary heating fuels used in New England. Guess where the region’s propane comes from, and how it gets there?
We’ve 
Two months ago PTT Global Chemical signed a contract with the Mountaineer NGL Storage project to use Mountaineer’s planned underground storage facility in Monroe County, OH to supply ethane to PTT’s cracker plant in neighboring Belmont County when/if the cracker gets built (see 
A group of far-left, so-called environmental groups, including, Earthjustice, Buckeye Environmental Network, Concerned Ohio River Residents, Freshwater Accountability Project, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the Sierra Club, are suing the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) in an attempt to overturn permits issued by ODNR to build an underground NGL storage hub in Monroe County, Ohio.