Pipelines

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | UGI Energy Services | Wyoming County (PA)

Victory! UGI Nears Completion of New Pipeline Gate Station
September 27, 2013September 27, 2013

It’s a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. The point where two different natural gas transmission pipelines connect–to transfer gas from one to the other–is called a gate station. Utility company UGI wanted to build a gate station near Scranton, PA so it could tap into locally-produced (and very cheap) Marcellus Shale gas from northeast PA. And of course anti-drillers objected, even though there’s been another gate station operating safely in the area for 50 years (see Anti-Drillers Try to Stop Pipeline Connector in NE PA and Back to Kindergarten: UGI Explains NatGas Gate Stations).

In August a judge finally cleared the way for UGI to build their new gate station–and it’s nearly done. Finally! A victory against the anti-drilling Luddites…
Read More “Victory! UGI Nears Completion of New Pipeline Gate Station”
Butler County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Rex Energy

Rex Energy Water Contamination Case Shifts Focus to Water Pipeline
September 27, 2013September 27, 2013

An update on the lingering/ongoing story of a community in western Pennyslvania (in Butler County) who say that nearby drilling by Rex Energy led to contamination of their well water supplies. The last MDN update on this story was in August of last year (see PA Residents Weary of Fight with Rex over Water Contamination). Some families have retained legal help and either have, or intend, to sue Rex. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, after an extensive investigation, said that Rex’s drilling is not at fault in the situation.

However, for most of the families, the issue has now progressed beyond blame–apparently water quality in the area was never the greatest to begin with. Rex had built a water line in the area to supply water for fracking and expects to turn over control/ownership of that line later this year. That water line can potentially be used to supply fresh water to the affected homes. The debate now: Who will pay to hook up the homes and to maintain the pipes and infrastructure required?
Read More “Rex Energy Water Contamination Case Shifts Focus to Water Pipeline”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | TC Energy/TransCanada

TransCanada: Open Season to Pipe Marcellus/Utica Gas West & South
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

More new pipeline capacity for Marcellus and Utica Shale gas may be on the way for northeast drillers. TransCanada announced two open seasons (times when drillers can contract pipeline capacity) for the ANR Pipeline System.

By using mostly existing pipelines with a few modifications, TransCanada hopes to pipe northeast shale gas to both the Midwest and Gulf Coast…
Read More “TransCanada: Open Season to Pipe Marcellus/Utica Gas West & South”
Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

UGI to Invest $1.2B to Upgrade Pipelines in PA to Deliver NatGas
September 20, 2013September 20, 2013

UGI is Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas distributing utility serving more than 586,000 natural gas customers in 45 counties. Along with that many customers comes a lot of underground pipelines–some of which need to be replaced. So UGI is on a quest to hire at least 100 new full-time workers to help replace them. They plan to spend $1.2 billion on the project to upgrade their infrastructure in PA.

So what does UGI’s new pipeline replacement project have to do with the Marcellus Shale?…
Read More “UGI to Invest $1.2B to Upgrade Pipelines in PA to Deliver NatGas”
Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | NGLs | Pipelines | West Virginia | Wetzel County

MarkWest Continues Cleanup at NGL Pipeline Spill in WV
September 16, 2013September 16, 2013

About a month ago, a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that connects MarkWest Energy’s Mobley and Majorsville facilities ruptured after a landslide hit it (Wetzel County, WV). The pipeline spilled onto the ground and into a nearby stream causing a fish kill (see Landslide Causes MarkWest NGL Pipeline in WV to Rupture/Spill). The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection has “cited” MarkWest, meaning there will be a fine at some point once the full extent of the damage is known.

In the meantime, MarkWest is working to clean it up. An update on progress at the spill site…
Read More “MarkWest Continues Cleanup at NGL Pipeline Spill in WV”
Economic Impact | Erie County (NY) | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Supply Chain

A New Marcellus Pipe Manufacturing Plant Comes to…New York???
September 13, 2013September 13, 2013

Maddening? Yes. Startling? True. Teeth-gritting? You bet. Ironic and mystifying? Supremely so.

A Middle Eastern company has just announced they will invest $102 million to build a factory in South Buffalo, NY that will employ 170 people making steel pipes for the…wait for it…shale drilling industry. And who should plant his mug right in the middle of this announcement to take credit for the investment and jobs it will bring to the state? Gov. Andy Cuomo–the man who can’t decide whether or not he’ll approve fracking in New York. You can see why we’re having such a conflicted and mixed(-up) reaction…
Read More “A New Marcellus Pipe Manufacturing Plant Comes to…New York???”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants

Dominion Will Spin Off Cove Point LNG Plant + Blue Racer as MLP
September 13, 2013September 13, 2013

Yesterday, the day after Dominion Resources learned of the approval from the Dept. of Energy for their proposed LNG export facility at Cove Point, MD, Dominion’s CEO Thomas Farrell announced that Dominion would spin off the new LNG facility along with their share in the Blue Racer Midstream joint venture in Ohio into a master limited partnership (MLP). An MLP is a special kind of company structure that issues “units” instead of shares of stock. MLPs are set up by the government specifically for the natural resources/mining industry–usually for oil and gas companies.

MLP units are traded on public securities exchanges combining the tax benefits of a limited partnership with the liquidity of publicly traded securities. Dominion’s MLP announcement caused its own shares of stock to reach a record high yesterday…
Read More “Dominion Will Spin Off Cove Point LNG Plant + Blue Racer as MLP”
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Williams

Thank God the Bluegrass Pipeline will Bypass Marion County Nuns
September 10, 2013September 10, 2013

Thank God the Bluegrass Pipeline will avoid running through property owned by a bunch of liberal Catholic nuns in Marion County, KY. No really, thank the good Lord! (Can I hear an Amen?) Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners–the joint partners building the Bluegrass natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline, a pipeline that carries (gasp!!) “flammable liquids”–say the NGL pipeline will not cross the holy ground of the Sisters of Loretto. But have no fear, the sisters say they’ll oppose it wherever it goes anyway.

Don’t tell the sisters or the AP reporter writing the very slanted article (below), but natural gas running through bazillions of miles of natgas pipelines buried under the ground in every major and minor city across America is just as “flammable” as what will run through the Bluegrass Pipeline when it’s built and operating…
Read More “Thank God the Bluegrass Pipeline will Bypass Marion County Nuns”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Supply Chain | Washington County

MN Construction Company Puts Down Roots in PA Marcellus
September 10, 2013September 10, 2013

A Minnesota-based construction management company is expanding in Washington County, PA in order to plug into the Utica and Marcellus Shale drilling supply chain. Fagen, Inc. offers cranes, tools, storage and expertise with projects across the oil and gas field including pipeline gathering systems, storage and even construction of processing plants.

Fagen’s announcement about the new Houston, PA operation:
Read More “MN Construction Company Puts Down Roots in PA Marcellus”
Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Trumbull County

US Army Corp Engineers OKs Halcon Pipeline in Trumbull County, OH
September 9, 2013September 9, 2013

Good news for Halcon Field Services: The Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has cleared the way for Halcon to horizontally drill and install a natural gas gathering pipeline beneath federal land in Trumbull County, Ohio…
Read More “US Army Corp Engineers OKs Halcon Pipeline in Trumbull County, OH”
Chemung County | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Millennium Pipeline | New York | Pipelines

Millennium Pipeline Looks to Move More Marcellus Gas with Dominion
September 9, 2013September 9, 2013

The story of the northeast: Too much Marcellus Shale natural gas, not enough pipelines to move it all to market. More pipelines are on the way like the Constitution, but in the meantime, how to move the enormous amount of gas already flowing?

On Friday, the Millennium Pipeline, a major transmission pipeline that traverses New York State from Steuben County in the western part of the state to Rockland County in the southeastern part of the state, announced a binding open season through September 13 on a proposal to ship more Marcellus gas by creating an interconnect between Dominion Transmission’s pipeline and the Millennium at or near Horseheads, NY (close to Elmira)…
Read More “Millennium Pipeline Looks to Move More Marcellus Gas with Dominion”
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Williams

Bluegrass NGL Pipeline Hits Brick Wall in the Bluegrass State
September 6, 2013September 6, 2013

In a touch of irony, the Bluegrass Pipeline–a proposed new natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will stretch from the Utica/Marcellus region all the way to the Gulf Coast (see Williams, Boardwalk Announce Marcellus-to-Gulf Coast NGL Pipeline)–has hit a brick wall in the Bluegrass State–Kentucky.

Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline, co-owners of the project, maintain that because the Bluegrass Pipeline is an interstate pipeline they can (if need be) invoke eminent domain to force landowners to let them lay the pipeline under their property. Kentucky Energy Secretary Len Peters says not so fast. His team of legal beagles has researched it and they say the Bluegrass Pipeline does not have eminent domain status in the Bluegrass State. We see a legal show-down on the horizon…
Read More “Bluegrass NGL Pipeline Hits Brick Wall in the Bluegrass State”
Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | Williams

Williams Evaluating Pipeline “Incident” in Dimock, PA
September 5, 2013

Residents in Dimock Township, PA near Carter Road–an area made infamous by Josh Fox in his Gasland movies–had a bit of a scare last Thursday when they heard a loud noise, like “a 747 jet plane.” As it turns out, it was noise coming from scheduled maintenance of a natural gas pipeline in the area owned and operated by Williams. A Williams spokeswoman says, “The process did not go as it should have.” Oops.

According to some concerned local pro-drilling residents, this is not the first Williams mishap in the area…
Read More “Williams Evaluating Pipeline “Incident” in Dimock, PA”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Range Resources Corp | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Says Mariner West Opening Soon, but Range Already Using??
September 4, 2013September 4, 2013

Although not publicly announced by Sunoco Logistics Partners, MDN told you back at the end of July that we spotted an admission from Range Resources that the first batch of ethane had been piped from the Marcellus Shale in western PA to Sarnia, Ontario (Canada) via the Mariner West pipeline (see Big News: Marcellus Ethane Now Exporting to Canada Cracker Plant). Was Range lying? We don’t think so–but today we noticed a small article published by Bloomberg (known to fudge the truth) that says the Mariner West pipeline will begin service in late September or early October. Huh?…
Read More “Sunoco Says Mariner West Opening Soon, but Range Already Using??”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | UGI Energy Services | Wyoming County (PA)

UGI Victory: Judge Rules in Favor Marcellus Gate Station in NE PA
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

MDN told you back in April about UGI’s (a Scranton-area public utility) plan to build a new pipeline connector–called a gate station–so they could tap into abundant, cheap and locally produced Marcellus Shale gas to sell to its customers. UGI’s plan will lower the gas bill for thousands of its customers and use local Marcellus gas instead of gas piped in from the Gulf Coast. Fantastically, some hardened anti-drillers opposed the new gate station with claims of air pollution, dire consequences, blah blah–the usual banal excuses–even though there has been another gate station operating in the area for more than 50 years (see Anti-Drillers Try to Stop Pipeline Connector in NE PA).

Anti-drillers tried to stop the UGI gate station by invoking local zoning ordinances at the town level. Fortunately, a level-headed administrative law judge has put a stop to those efforts and has ruled that UGI may go ahead and build the new Marcellus gas gate station…
Read More “UGI Victory: Judge Rules in Favor Marcellus Gate Station in NE PA”
Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Hess | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Ohio | Pipelines | PVR Midstream | PVR Partners | Utica Shale

PVR Partners to Build $150M Utica Shale Pipeline System for Hess
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Midstream company PVR Partners has been selected by Hess to construct 45 miles of gathering pipelines in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale region. In an announcement issued today, PVR said the new pipelines will be built to cover Belmont, Jefferson and Harrison Counties where Hess holds a substantial acreage position. The new pipeline project will end up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $125-$150 million and will be completed in 2015.

The PVR announcement:
Read More “PVR Partners to Build $150M Utica Shale Pipeline System for Hess”