Pipelines

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    Mariner East 1 Sprang a Small NGL Leak Near Philly, on Apr 1

    Mariner East Pipeline Project map – click for larger version

    The Mariner East 1 pipeline sprung a small leak and spilled 20 barrels (~840 gallons) of ethane and propane in Berks County, near Philadelphia, on April 1. Sunoco Logistics Partners, builder and maintainer of the pipeline, shut it down and fixed it over the next several days. The entire episode, which happened 20 days ago, is only now coming to light. Sunoco is being criticized by antis for not taking out a major advertising campaign to announce the leak. Sunoco says they alerted the National Response Center (NRC), the proper federal authority (a program of the U.S. Coast Guard). Apparently it is the job of the NRC to alert the public. Although this was a small leak which was quickly contained and with no long-term effects, Sunoco seems to have missed an important life lesson: He who gets there with the bad news first, wins. Sunoco LP should have (in our opinion) been more proactive in publicly announcing the leak and the steps taken to contain and fix it–and to reassure folks that measures will be taken to prevent any such leaks in the future. There would have been a day or two of hit pieces by “mainstream” media, and then the story would have disappeared. Now, the story will linger and be used against the company should any more minor spills happen…
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    Rover Update: Half of 15K Workers Now Hired, 2% Pipeline Laid

    Two weeks MDN brought you the news that Energy Transfer’s $3.7 billion, 711-mile Rover Pipeline needs up to 15,000 workers to build it. At the time, it was reported they currently have ~4,500 workers. And they want to complete the first stage of the pipeline by July (see Help Wanted: 15,000 Workers Needed for Rover Pipeline, STAT!). MDN’s story went viral. It has, so far, been read over 18,000 times on the MDN website–a new record for an MDN story just two weeks old. The headline and blurb we posted on Facebook has been seen by over 75,000 people! The result was that we were flooded with this simple question: Where do I sign up to work on the pipeline? The answer, unfortunately, is not straightforward. We reached out to Energy Transfer multiple times and got less-than-satisfactory answers. Energy Transfer’s answer to the question is this: If you are a contractor or want to try your hand at becoming a contractor, you can try applying via Rover’s contractor online application process. However, most people are not interested in that route. They just want to sign up and begin working. For those folks, Rover responded, “Rover is committed to utilizing Union labor 100% for this project. Laborers looking for work, can contact their local union halls.” No help with identifying those local union halls. So MDN provided a list (see How to Apply for one of the 15K Jobs Building the Rover Pipeline). Perhaps MDN had a hand in a flood of new recruits, because as of a construction report filed by Rover with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this week, they now have 7,570 people working on the pipeline. It’s an interesting update (full copy below). Rover includes a table for how much of each phase the pipeline is complete. Tree felling? 100% done. Tree clearing? For the mainline, 51% done. How much of the main pipeline is now laid and ready for welding? Just 2%. Also interesting is a brief note that back on April 7, there was a small spill of bentonite drilling mud into a swap…
    Read More “Rover Update: Half of 15K Workers Now Hired, 2% Pipeline Laid”

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    Encana Says Montney Gas Can Compete with M-U at Dawn Hub

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    Canadian driller Encana issued a press release two days ago with a pretty big boast. The release touts Encana’s leased acreage in the Montney Shale basin. Where’s that? It’s located along the border of Canada’s British Columbia and Alberta provinces–not far from the West Coast in the northern reaches of Canada. Encana is claiming they will use cheap pipeline rates now offered by TransCanada to transport up to 316 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas to the Dawn Hub in Ontario (our neck of the woods), and do so more cheaply than gas arriving at the Dawn Hub from the Marcellus/Utica. You may recall that TransCanada cooked up a plan to cut the price of transporting gas from Western Canada to Ontario in a bid to compete with cheap Marcellus/Utica gas (see TransCanada Says Plan to Lowball M-U Gas Worked, Shippers Sign Up). Look at the map we’ve provided. TransCanada claims it can make it less expensive to get gas from Western Canada, some 2,400 miles away, than from the Marcellus, just 400 miles away. Encana is the first driller we are aware of it give it a go…
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    Pilgrim Pipeline Takes Arrows from Radical Antis – Project Dead?

    In November 2015, MDN told you about Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings, developing an East Coast pipeline to carry refined petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and jet and aviation fuel northbound from Linden, New Jersey to Albany, New York (178 miles). In addition, a second Pilgrim pipeline will carry crude oil from Albany south to NJ and other locations. Two pipelines, side by side, different liquids flowing through them in different directions (see Will Pilgrim Pipeline be Allowed to Settle in the NY World?). The oil that would flow south from Albany comes from trains delivering crude from the Bakken Shale play–a double evil in the sight of radical anti-fossil fuelers. Antis from both New York and New Jersey have vigorously opposed the project from the beginning. We told you about a meeting in Bergen County, NJ last year where the antis “got rowdy” (see NJ Residents “Get Rowdy” in Opposition to NY-NJ Pilgrim Pipeline). Pilgrim has been working hard to accommodate concerns about the pipeline. Most recently, Pilgrim adjusted its route in NJ. The radicals at the New Jersey Sierra Club are encouraged by the route change–encouraged that the project is now on life support and the Clubbers are itching to pull the plug…
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    Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp

    We suppose it was bound to happen, but fervently wish it hadn’t. In the process of drilling underneath the Tuscarawas River (in Stark County) one week ago, on April 13, Rover workers experienced an “inadvertent return” of “horizontal directional drilling fluid.” That is, they sprung a leak and spilled nearly 2 million gallons of drilling fluid. Not, thank God, into the Tuscarawas River, but into a swamp (i.e. “wetland”) next to the river. Fortunately the primary component of said drilling fluid is nontoxic bentonite–the same ingredient used to make shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and kitty litter. We’ve covered other such nontoxic spills in the past (see our bentonite stories here). The biggest threat to aquatic life in the river is if large quantities of bentonite get into the river and smother the little fishies and salamanders–from lack of oxygen. A second spill happened while drilling horizontally under another swamp the very next day–in Richland County. Rover workers spilled 50,000 gallons of drilling fluid there. Both spills were immediately reported to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which is on the job, monitoring cleanup efforts. A whopping fine is sure to follow…
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    Thoroughbred Cabot O&G Ready to Bolt When Pipeline Gate Opens

    Cabot Oil & Gas had the highest production in the county with the highest amount of production (Susquehanna County) in 2016 in Pennsylvania. Cabot had the second highest amount of production (coming from that single county) in PA for all of 2016, not far behind Chesapeake Energy. Last year using their “Gen 4” completions in the Marcellus, Cabot increased estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) rates from 3.8 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per 1,000 feet of lateral well to 4.4 Bcf (see Cabot O&G 2016 – Production Grows from 3.8 to 4.4 Bcf per 1K Feet). Cabot gets double the gas per lateral foot of well than some of its competitors. By all accounts, Cabot is the equivalent of a thoroughbred horse. But the Cabot horse is still penned up at the starting gate, waiting for the gate to open. The gate, in this metaphor, is pipeline projects that will carry some of Cabot’s prolific northeastern PA production to other regions where it can fetch a higher price. According to research analyst Michael Fitzsimmons, writing on the Seeking Alpha investor website, Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline “will unlock the cage that has kept Cabot Oil & Gas’ reserves bottled up” by flowing an eye-popping 1 Bcf per day of Cabot natgas south…
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    Marcellus/Utica Gas Soon Heading to Florida Penninsula via Sabal Trail

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    Spectra Energy (and partners NextEra Energy and Duke Energy) are building a $3.2 billion, 515-mile interstate natural gas pipeline in Florida, Georgia and Alabama to deliver Marcellus gas to the southeast. The project, called Sabal Trail Transmission, has been underway for the past three+ years and is due to be completed and online in June–two months from now. Sabal Trail will connect to Williams’ Hillabee Expansion Project, which is a new pipeline spur built off the huge Transco pipeline system (see Williams Building Alabama Pipeline with Marcellus Connection). Williams is reversing a portion of the Transco to bring Marcellus gas south. RBN Energy provides a comprehensive update Sabal Trail and Florida’s “gas thirsty peninsula” that it will serve. RBN says one of the main users of Marcellus gas in Florida will be (yep) electric power generating plants…
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    The Key to Unlocking PA’s NatGas Reserves: Pipelines

    Once the slew of approved and under-construction pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica region are done, the M-U region will likely go from providing 20-25% of the nation’s total natural gas production to providing one-third of the country’s total natgas production. This astonishing story of production and pipelines in the northeast is really, at its core, a story about Pennsylvania. According to a recent Reuters article, at least five pipelines capable of transporting a combined 7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natgas from the PA Marcellus/Utica are scheduled to open in 2017, with five more transporting another 5 Bcf/d due for completion in 2018. Pipelines are the key to unlocking Pennsylvania’s vast natgas reserves…
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    Hearings Scheduled for Proposed Duke Pipeline in Cincinnati

    Duke Energy Ohio, an LDC or “local distribution company” serves some half a million customers with natural gas in Ohio. The company has a 12-mile pipeline to flow the gas it needs, to move it from one point to another in Hamilton County (Cincinnati), in the southwest corner of the state. The Duke pipeline has been in service since the 1950s. Duke needs to replace that pipe or some of those half million Duke customers won’t get natural gas any more. Because anything to do with “fracking” or “pipelines” has been so thoroughly bastardized by the media and anti-fossil fuel protesters, there has been, of course, opposition to Duke’s plan. So Duke “listened” and has scaled back their plans. Instead of building a 30-inch gas pipeline running at 600 psi (pounds per square inch), the revised plan calls for a 20-inch pipeline running at 400 psi (see Duke Energy Modifies/Scales Back Plan for SW OH Pipeline). Duke proposed two potential routes, both of which are opposed by antis, including a group calling themselves NOPE–Neighbors Opposing Pipeline Extension. We call them DOPEs–Dummies Opposing Pipeline Extensions. Will the DOPErs volunteer to shut off the natural gas to their homes and businesses if the pipeline doesn’t get built? Not on your life! Two public hearings have now been scheduled–one for June 15 and the other July 12. The DOPErs are gearing up to fight…
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    FERC State of the Markets Report 2016 – Pipelines to the Rescue

    Late last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released its annual “State of the Markets Report” for 2016 (full copy below). Among the choice tidbits we found this statement: “Natural gas production from the Marcellus and Utica shales accounted for 30 percent of the U.S. total in 2016, due to the prolific nature of these formations, relatively low production costs, and proximity to the large Northeast markets. In addition, new pipeline infrastructure reduced bottlenecks allowing additional gas to reach the demand centers.” We also spotted this interesting factoid: “In 2016, 7.1 Bcf of FERC jurisdictional pipeline capacity went into service, with 43 percent designed to move natural gas from Appalachia to markets in the Northeast and Midwest. Staff expects the new natural gas pipeline capacity to continue contributing towards shrinking price differentials between regions throughout the U.S., and help keep natural gas prices relatively low.” Translation: hang in there Marcellus/Utica drillers–prices are going to rise soon because of these new pipelines. Here’s the update from FERC…
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    Williams Responds to Tired Old Claim Atlantic Sunrise Exports Gas

    Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline map – click for larger version

    One of the arguments anti-pipeline advocates are attempting to use to slow down the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project in Pennsylvania is to argue there aren’t enough Federal Energy Regulatory (FERC) Commissioners to listen to them complain. When FERC Chairman Norman “cry baby” Bay left in a huff on Feb. 3, FERC was left with just two (out of five) active Commissoners (see FERC Commissioner Norm Bay Targets M-U on Way Out the Door). On Bay’s last day on the job, he and the other two active Commissioners voted to approve the Atlantic Sunrise project (see Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC). When a project is authorized, the very first tactic in the anti playbook is to challenge it. But unfortunately (for the antis), nobody’s home to hear them. That is, there aren’t enough Commissioners to hear their protest and make a decision to reverse their previous decision. Thing is, if they did hear the complaining of antis and decided their original decision was just fine, the antis then move on to filing an appeal in court. But antis can’t “pass go and collect $200” (i.e. go to court) until/unless FERC first refuses to “re-hear” their decision. Antis in Lebanon County have filed with FERC, hoping there will soon be a quorum to consider their complaint against Williams and Atlantic Sunrise. One of their main arguments is a very old argument–that most of the gas that will head south will be exported. Williams took time to swat that one away, once again…
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    Lack of Pipeline Approvals by Cuomo = Future Power Outages in NY

    New York Gov. Cuomo has now blocked the Constitution Pipeline from getting built (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline), and the Northern Access Pipeline project (see Cuomo’s Corrupt NY DEC Blocks NFG Northern Access Pipeline Permit). Those two projects are critical–not only for Pennsylvania drillers, but for NY’s natural gas customers. However, the cancer of pipelineitis seems to have now spread. The Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is behaving with two smaller-yet-vital pipeline projects as they did with both of those large pipeline projects. The behavior observed is this: delay for a year or more, and when you can no longer get away with more delays, simply deny the permits. This time their delay/denial routine threatens electric reliability in the Empire State–because the two small pipeline projects they’re doing it with would feed new electric generating plants. With the imminent closing of a nuclear plant near New York City–by Cuomo–our state needs massive amounts of new electric generating capacity. Fields and fields of solar panels and hillside upon hillside of windmills can’t replace all of the electricity disappearing when Indian Point closes. Natgas generation has to come online–and if it doesn’t, get read for rolling blackouts…
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    FERC Wants More Info, Route Tweaks from Atlantic Coast Pipeline

    One of the oft-repeated lies we hear from anti-fossil fuelers against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is that the agency “never” rejects a pipeline proposal, and “hasn’t in 20 years.” The conclusion, according to liemeisters like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, is that FERC is simply a “rubber stamp” for “big oil and gas”–not to be trusted and (preferably) shut down. That’s the kindergartenish meme they pedal to unthinking, left-leaning enviro lapdogs (their followers), who believe them. But you and I know the truth. This is that truth: FERC picks over pipeline projects with a fine-tooth comb. When FERC finds something they don’t like, they respond back to the project builder with “suggestions” about route changes, construction guidelines, request for more information, etc. If the project builder decides to disregard FERC’s “suggestions,” the builder runs the risk of having the project rejected. So they change it. It is an ongoing negotiation. What if FERC demands something really wacky? The project builder will push back, but in the end, what FERC wants, FERC gets. Period. And so it is with Dominion’s $5 billion, 594-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. Atlantic Coast is winding its way through the FERC regulatory process. Last week was the deadline for filing comments on FERC’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project. On Tuesday, FERC sent Dominion a 36-page letter (full copy below) regarding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, identifying 100 areas of concern with the “suggestion” that minor route changes and workspace reductions would button up most issues. You can bet your bottom dollar Atlantic Coast Pipeline will bend over backwards to make those adjustments. This is how adults handle things…
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    Texas Gas Asks FERC for Extra 2 Yrs on Northern Supply Access Proj

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    Texas Gas Transmission (TGT) is a big pipeline network owned and operated by Boardwalk Pipeline Partners. Originally built from the Louisiana Gulf Coast to the upper Midwest, the purpose of the pipeline system was to supply Illinois, Indiana and Ohio with natural gas. Then the Marcellus/Utica Shale happened and TGT needed to change strategies. Through a series of projects, TGT made the pipeline system bidirectional, so it could flow gas from the Marcellus/Utica to points south, going as far as the Gulf Coast. One of the primary projects to accomplish that objective is called the Northern Access Supply Project, which first landed on our radar in Sept. 2015 (see Northern Supply Access Proj. Expands OH to Gulf Pipeline Capacity). Northern Access Supply was authorized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in March 2016 to “construct a new compressor station in Hamilton County, Ohio and make modifications at eight existing compressor stations in, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana in order to enable Texas Gas to provide an additional 384,000 million British thermal units (“MMBtu”) per day of firm transportation service primarily in a north-to-south direction on Texas Gas’s system while maintaining Texas Gas’s current ability to flow gas south-to-north.” FERC gave TGT two years to get the work done (deadline March 2018). While some of the work has been done, not all of it has–and now TGT is asking for more time–an additional two years (to March 2020) to complete the project. Why? Because one of shippers contracted to use 100,000 MMBtus of that capacity (or 26% of the increased capacity) has filed for bankruptcy and can’t fulfill its commitment. So TGT wants to delay the final work until it has more customers for the other 100,000 MMBtus of capacity…
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    OH Lawsuit Tries, Fails to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipeline

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    The Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline has always been a story about Pennsylvania. Almost always. ME2 is actually two pipelines, laid side by side, that are meant to carry natural gas liquids (propane and butane) from southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio all the way across PA to the Philadelphia area–terminating at the Marcus Hook refinery/terminal. Most (not all) of the NGLs are exported to other countries. And therein lies the bone of contention. ME2 was granted status as a public utility and with it, the right to use eminent domain to force landowners to allow the pipeline across their property. Some landowners resisted, and (with help from anti groups) sued, repeatedly, claiming there is no public benefit from NGLs that get exported to other countries. They do have a point. So ME2 built four “off ramps” in PA–points where propane and butane will be purchased and used locally, which helps justify the public utility/eminent domain claim. Until now we’ve always read about lawsuits against ME2 originating in PA, where 95% of the pipeline will be built. However, there was a vigorous challenge to ME2 in Ohio on the same grounds–that ME2 is not in the public interest. That lawsuit argued, among other things, there are no “off ramps” in Ohio where the NGLs will be sold and used. However, a lower court and then an appeals court didn’t buy that argument and ruled against the landowner and in favor of ME2. That case appears dead, but it was appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court (no decision yet on hearing the case). This post will catch you up on the arguments for and against ME2 and its claim to be a public utility with the right of eminent domain in Ohio…
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    Rover Works w/Farmers to Ensure Field Access During Construction

    We previously highlighted a video that shows the massive project underway to construct the Rover Pipeline (see Video of Rover Pipeline’s Massive & Complex Construction in OH). Truly impressive feat of engineering. Rover cuts through a lot of farm land–as evidenced on that video. So what happens when the pipeline is cutting through a farmer’s property, and the farmer needs to drive his tractor and other equipment from one side of the construction to a field on the other side? Out of luck? Screwed? Too bad, so sad? Nope. Rover, like other responsible pipeline companies, is working with farmers to ensure they can get to where they need to go during pipeline construction. In some cases Rover will install “trench plugs” over the trench, and in other cases “timber mats”…
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