Pipelines

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Cumberland County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Anti Groups “Outraged” at Mariner East 2 Open House Invite
February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

Once again the Philadelphia-based anti-drilling group Clean Air Council (CAC), along with THE Delaware Riverkeeper (Maya van Rossum) have their collective knickers in a twist. The two groups are “outraged” that Sunoco Logistics, in sending around invitations to an open house on the Mariner East 2 pipeline, didn’t send one to them. Not only that, but the invites that were sent out–to landowners and elected officials–said the invite is “not transferable” to anyone else. We could hear the howls and screams from Philly all the way up here in upstate NY!…
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CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Canadian LNG Exports, New England Pipelines & the Marcellus
February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

Let’s return to the topic of exporting Marcellus/Utica Shale gas. You may recall MDN did a roundup of potential export facilities for Marcellus/Utica Shale gas back in August. Most of those facilities are located in Canada (see List of LNG Export Projects for Marcellus/Utica Shale Gas). The biggest hurdle to feeding those projects is not technical but instead is political/philosophical. Anti-fossil fuelers in New England are vigorously opposing new pipelines to the region from the Marcellus even though it would deliver cheap, abundant, clean-burning natural gas that would ultimately lower their own electric rates. Must be they like paying 2-3 times for electricity what everyone else across the country pays. Sprinkle in talk of using some of the gas that would flow through those pipelines for export and they go berserk. However, that’s not to say they don’t have some (minor) points that need to be considered. Let’s delve into the specifics of how (and why) northeast gas should flow to Canada, how much, and whether or not it would affect the price New Englanders ultimately have to pay for electricity…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Litigation | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Mass. Town Sues FERC to Stop Pipeline Claiming Gas is for Export
February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

A bunch of aging New Englanders ~~hippies~~ have no problem whatsoever with the federal Environmental Protection Agency running roughshod all over the Constitution with its edicts that shut down coal-powered electric plants and threaten oil and gas drilling, but the same people turn around and have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) claiming a law granting FERC the power to regulate pipelines, including pipelines that will flow oil and gas for export, is unconstitutional. That’s real chutzpah. We’ve previously written about the Deerfield, MA Town Health Board and their puffery in presuming to “ban” the Tennessee Gas Pipeline expansion through their town on the basis that some of the gas flowing through it would be exported (see Deerfield, MA Hoping Kinder Morgan Sues Them over Pipeline “Ban”). Deerfield can’t get FERC to sue them, so Deerfield has decided to sue FERC instead…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia

WV to VA Mountain Valley Pipeline Changing Routes?
February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

Last October the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 330-mile project that will run from Wetzel County, WV to Pittsylvania County, VA, completed a successful open season to sign up potential customers (see EQT’s WV to VA Pipeline Open Season a Success, FERC Filing in Oct). However, the map we included in the October article is changing. The current path will take it through Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke and Franklin counties before ending at the Transco pipeline in Pittsylvania County. Word is out that the pipeline has been looking in Craig County, VA, which borders Giles, as an alternative path…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Dominion Buys SC/GA Pipeline Network, Plans for Marcellus Gas?
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Dominion Resources, a large energy producer and midstream company operating primarily in the mid-Atlantic and southeast, is behind the the Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a 550-mile, $5 billion natural gas pipeline that will run from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina to deliver 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to VA and NC (see Dominion Asks FERC to Start Environmental Review of SE Pipeline). Yesterday Dominion announced they’ve picked up Carolina Gas Transmission (CGT) for a cool $492.9 million. CGT operates 1,500 miles of FERC-regulated interstate natural gas pipeline in South Carolina and southeastern Georgia. We wonder if Dominion plans to connect the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to CGT and flow Marcellus/Utica shale gas deep into the heart of Dixie…
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Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Marcellus/Utica – More Dangerous than Other Shale Plays?
February 2, 2015February 2, 2015

The recent ATEX Express pipeline explosion/fire in Brooke County, WV has folks asking questions (see ATEX Ethane Pipeline Explodes, Burns in Brooke County, WV). It’s not the first accident in Brooke County. In 2013 Chesapeake Energy had a hydraulic line fail at an active drilling site that ended up torching five tractor-trailers and did $8 million in damage (see Update on Chesapeake Energy Well Fire in Brooke County, WV). Over the past 4 to 5 years, since there’s been active drilling in the Marcellus/Utica, there have been 21 serious accidents/incidents in the Ohio Valley alone (and a number of others outside the Ohio Valley, see our companion article today) related to either drilling or pipelines. By comparison, there have been a handful of accidents and incidents in the North Dakota Bakken–and only one pipeline incident to speak of. Is it a fair comparison to make–safety in the Bakken vs. the Marcellus/Utica?…
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Blue Racer Midstream | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Williams

Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conf: $30B of NE Infrastructure Needed
January 30, 2015January 30, 2015

Day two, and the concluding day at the Hart Energy Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conference in Pittsburgh, proved as interesting as the first day (for a day one recap, see Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conf: Marcellus is “Best of the Best”). One of the speakers on day two was Scott Williams, executive VP and chief commercial officer for Blue Racer Midstream, who spoke about his company’s processing plants in the northeast. Blue Racer’s Natrium, WV plant connects to Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner West ethane pipeline, which carts Blue Racer’s ethane to Sarnia, Ontario (Canada) and the Nova Chemicals Corunna ethane cracker. Blue Racer also operates the Berne processing plant in Monroe County, OH. According to Williams, “in excess of $30 billion worth of infrastructure still needs to be built” in the northeast. Wow! That should keep a variety of companies busy for a while. A VP from midstream giant Williams (which recently bought out Access Midstream) agrees…
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Accidents | Brooke County | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | West Virginia

PHMSA Update on ATEX Pipeline Explosion in WV – Faulty Weld?
January 30, 2015January 30, 2015

It’s been five days since a section of the Appalachia to Texas (ATEX) Express ethane pipeline ruptured/exploded and burned in Brooke County, WV (see ATEX Ethane Pipeline Explodes, Burns near Follansbee, WV). Since the pipeline is under the regulatory oversight of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), that organization is doing the investigation into the accident. The rupture and resulting fire burned approximately 24,000 barrels of ethane and scorched some 5 acres of woodland. What has the PHMSA learned so far? Not much. They have some theories, according to an initial report. It appears that the 20-inch pipeline ruptured near a section that had been welded together…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

NJ Conservation Group Opposes PennEast Pipeline – Self Interest
January 30, 2015January 30, 2015

Bet you didn’t know that if the PennEast Pipeline, a 110-mile pipeline from Wilkes-Barre, PA to Trenton, NJ is built, it will pollute the drinking water for 2.5 million people. That’s the faux claim made by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation in a resolution they’ve just passed opposing the project. It’s pretty obvious the board of the Foundation is packed with anti-fossil fuelers (all of whom use fossil fuels every day of their lives). Such is the wacky world of anti-drillers. Make reckless and false claims, have those claims picked up and amplified by a sycophantic media that NEVER challenges them on those claims, and try to bend the unthinking public’s will against a project like the PennEast. Standard play book…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Pipelines | Richland County | Statewide OH

Advice to OH Landowners Approached for Pipeline Easements
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

The Energy Transfer Partners Rover pipeline (ET Rover) is probably the biggest pipeline project currently under way in the U.S. It’s bigger than the Keystone XL pipeline! In places like Richland and Crawford counties in Ohio, ET Rover is actually two pipelines–42 inches in diameter, sitting side by side. The entire length is 820 miles and will stretch from WV and PA through OH and into Michigan and eventually to Canada. Landowners in Richland and Crawford attended a meeting sponsored by a Columbus law firm last night to hear some sobering truth: the pipeline will happen and it is coming. But that doesn’t mean landowners are helpless. The attorneys offered some good advice that all landowners approached for pipeline easements should listen to…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Columbia Withdraws Compressor Plan, Seeks Alternative in SWPA
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

Columbia Midstream Group, a subsidiary of NiSource, has withdrawn an application to build a compressor station in South Strabane Township (Washington County), PA and has, instead, applied to build two smaller facilities at the same site: a launcher/receiver facility and a metering station (both related to pipelines). The land they intend to build on is a 251-acre plot owned by Range Resources. Nearby residents who attended a public hearing on Tuesday night were still against the plan, even though it’s not nearly as big and noisy and polluting as a compressor station…
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Accidents | Brooke County | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | West Virginia

Enterprise Releases 2014 Results – Remains Mum on ATEX Explosion
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

Enterprise Products Partners, a huge $41 billion midstream company with 51,000 miles of pipelines, and the company that built the Appalachia to Texas (ATEX) Express pipeline, released their 2014 results today. In the update is no mention of the explosion and fire along the ATEX in Brooke County, WV that happened on Monday (see ATEX Ethane Pipeline Explodes, Burns in Brooke County, WV). We’ve looked, and haven’t found a peep about what caused the explosion. The agency charged with investigating the pipeline rupture is the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)…
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Energy Services | EnLink Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Meetings | Pipelines

Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conf: Marcellus is “Best of the Best”
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

The Hart Energy Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conference kicked off yesterday in Pittsburgh at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Unfortunately your humble Marcellus/Utica gadfly was not extended a press pass by Hart Energy (yes, we’re trying to shame them for ignoring our request), so we’re not at the event which is drawing some 2,000 attendees. However, plenty of others are there. Kicking off the first day with the opening keynote was Barry Davis, CEO of EnLink Midstream Partners. Davis had some sobering words, saying he expects shale drilling to contract by 50% nationwide. However, Davis had high praise for the Marcellus/Utica, calling it “the best of the best” that will see less cut-backs than the others…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Randolph County | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

USFS Seeks Comment on Pipeline Survey in Monongahela Natl Forest
January 28, 2015January 28, 2015

Here on Pandora where the forests are sentient and can think and feel…oh wait, that’s in the movie Avatar and the sequel is not due out until the end of 2017 (drats!). We live on Mother Earth, not on Pandora. But you wouldn’t know it by the reaction of anti-drillers at the prospect of running Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline through 17 miles of the Monongahela National Forest. You’d swear the forest can actually feel it–and would experience a catastrophic wound in its very soul…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Guest Post | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Guest Post: The Self Delusion of Anti-Pipeliners in New England
January 28, 2015January 28, 2015

Yesterday MDN ran a story from NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index that delves into the motivation behind the intense opposition to pipeline projects in the northeast (see Why Such Intense Opposition to Pipelines in the Northeast?). Rick Groll, a geologist and industrial seismologist living and working in the Boston area, has some of his own observations on the motives of his fellow New Englanders. What makes these anti-pipeliners tick? Rick offers us some insight in this guest post…
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Accidents | Brooke County | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | West Virginia

ATEX Ethane Pipeline Explodes, Burns in Brooke County, WV
January 27, 2015January 27, 2015

Yesterday morning a section of the 20-inch ATEX (Appalachia to Texas) ethane pipeline ruptured and caught fire in Follansbee (Brooke County), WV. No one was injured but two families living nearby were evacuated as a precaution. The first calls of an explosion and fire came around 10:40 am yesterday. The cause of the rupture is not yet known…
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