Pipelines

Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Mariner East Ethane Pipeline/Shipping Combo Still Alive
November 21, 2011November 21, 2011

There’s more than one way to get ethane to a cracker plant. MDN has chronicled the debate over whether pipelines to other regions like the Gulf Coast or Canada, or locally built ethane cracker (processing) plants, or a mix of the two, should be used to process the ethane-rich “wet gas” from the Marcellus and Utica Shales. Four ethane pipeline projects and at least one locally built ethane cracker plant have been promoted by various companies. Two of the four pipelines are “solid” and moving forward. The other two, according to one analyst, are in doubt (see this MDN story).

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Laser Northeast Gathering | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

PA Pipeline Allowed to Withdraw Public Utility Application
November 11, 2011November 11, 2011

Laser Northeast Gathering is a 30-mile, $55 million pipeline being built from Susquehanna County, PA to across the border in Broome County, NY. When complete, the pipeline will connect wells in Susquehanna County with the Millennium Pipeline which runs through Broome County. As MDN previously reported, Laser Northeast had filed for public utility status and then eventually withdrew that application when the need for eminent domain was no longer necessary.

The final chapter in that story is now written. The PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday voted to officially allow Laser Northeast to withdraw the application they had once submitted.

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Is Chesapeake’s Ethane Pipeline Deal a Negotiating Tactic?
November 10, 2011November 10, 2011

Last week, MDN reported that officials in West Virginia were angry with Chesapeake Energy over their decision to sign a contract to ship ethane out of the Marcellus region for processing in the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story). Specifically, state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said the deal may jeopardize the state’s chances of attracting a cracker plant—a facility that processes ethane into ethylene, the raw material used to make plastics. The chief complaint was that Chesapeake has been part of negotiations to bring such a plant to the region but at the same time were silent about their impending deal with Enterprise Products Partners to lease a pipeline to move ethane out of the area.

Chesapeake has responded to the criticism and says its deal with Enterprise has been “misunderstood.” A recent statement from Chesapeake seems to indicate the deal to ship ethane via pipeline is a negotiating tactic to get the best price for their ethane. Other industry sources are sticking up for Chesapeake and say the deal is certainly not a “cracker killer.”

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El Paso | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | MarkWest Energy | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

How Many Ethane Pipelines will the Marcellus Shale Support?
November 8, 2011November 8, 2011

In yesterday’s Pittsburgh Business Times, reporter Anya Litvak does a good job of analyzing the prospects for various ethane pipelines that may (or may not) be constructed from the Marcellus region to other geographies in order to process the ethane into ethylene (a raw material used in making plastics). She keyed off the news that the joint venture from El Paso Corp. and Spectra Energy to build a Marcellus Ethane Pipeline Systems (MEPS) didn’t attract enough interest for it to go forward.

However, as MDN mentioned yesterday, Enterprise Products Products is building an ethane pipeline and Chesapeake Energy will be its first customer (see this MDN story). That pipeline is due to go in service in 2014.

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Officials Angry with Chesapeake Over Ethane Pipeline Deal
November 7, 2011November 7, 2011

State officials in West Virginia are angry with Chesapeake Energy over the announcement that Chesapeake has signed a deal to ship ethane out of the Marcellus region via pipeline to the Gulf Coast for processing. A quick petrochemical lesson: Some of what comes out of the ground when drilling for natural gas is the chemical compound ethane—especially found in “wet gas” areas of the Marcellus like West Virginia. Ethane can be processed into ethylene, which is the raw material used to make plastics.

West Virginia and Pennsylvania have been heavily courting Shell and at least one other unnamed company to build a “cracker plant” to process the ethane (crack it) into ethylene. Building a cracker plant in the region would attract thousands of jobs and billions of initial investment, and billions in revenue from associated plastics industries that would sprout up around the plant. It’s like winning the biggest imaginable lottery jackpot when it comes to jobs, money and tax revenue.

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Chesapeake First Customer for Ethane Pipeline to Gulf Coast
November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

Looks like Enterprise Products’ plan to build an ethane pipeline from the Marcellus and Utica Shales to the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story) is already paying off. Chesapeake Energy is the first company to commit to using the pipeline, which is due to be completed and in service by 2014.

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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Enterprise Wants to Build Ethane Pipeline to Gulf Coast
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is planning to build a major new pipeline to transport ethane from the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The second largest component (by volume) to come out of the ground in shale gas drilling is the chemical ethane. Somewhere between one and six percent of natural gas coming from the ground is ethane, which can be converted to the hydrocarbon ethylene. Ethylene is the “feedstock” (or raw material) used to make most plastics, including polyethylene and PVC. Enterprise wants to provide a way for ethane to reach the ethylene processing plants along the Gulf Coast.

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El Paso | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Tennessee Gas ‘300 Line’ Pipeline Now Complete & Flowing
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company finished its "300 Line" project Tuesday and started natural gas flowing through the new pipes. The expanded pipeline is an important part of the delivery infrastructure for moving Marcellus Shale gas to market in the northeastern U.S.

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Clearfield County | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

First Reserve Invests in Two PA Marcellus Gas Pipelines
October 12, 2011

More pipeline news. First Reserve, an investment company that invests primarily in the energy industry, has just pumped $100 million into a joint venture that will give it 50% ownership in two new pipeline gathering systems in Greene and Clearfield counties in Pennsylvania. Both pipelines service the Marcellus Shale drilling industry in those areas.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | UGI Energy Services

Local Pipeline in NE PA Now Sending Marcellus Gas Interstate
October 12, 2011October 12, 2011

Marcellus shale gas is now flowing through the UGI Energy Services Auburn pipeline to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in Susquehanna County, PA with volumes expected to reach 120,000 dekatherms per day “in the next several months.” What does it mean? It’s one more access point for Marcellus Shale gas to reach the larger interstate market.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Magnum Hunter | MarkWest Energy | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Magnum Hunter & MarkWest Do Deal to Process WV Shale Gas
October 6, 2011October 6, 2011

Pipeline company Magnum Hunter Resources has signed a deal with natural gas processor MarkWest Liberty to deliver and process “liquids-rich” Marcellus Shale gas from northwest West Virginia. As part of the deal, a Magnum Hunter subsidiary (Eureka Hunter) is selling an under-construction gas processing plant to MarkWest. What it all means is that Magnum Hunter and MarkWest are joining forces to handle a large capacity of shale gas that needs processing in northwest WV.

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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

EQT Starts Construction on New Pipeline in WV/PA
September 22, 2011September 22, 2011

EQT has received federal approval to construct a new natural gas pipeline that will reach from West Virginia into Pennsylvania, and will begin construction immediately:

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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pike County | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Tennessee Pipeline Construction Racks up 45 Violations in 3 Months
September 21, 2011September 21, 2011

A conservation official in Pike County, PA is “fed up” with the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company and their project to expand their 300 Line pipeline by adding seven looping segments in Pennsylvania and New Jersey totaling 127 miles of 30-inch pipeline. Pike County Conservation District Executive Director Susan Beecher is asking the state DEP to assess a fine sooner rather than later, to send a message and encourage Tennessee to tighten up its operations.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | PVR Midstream

New Water Pipeline Coming for Drillers in Northeast PA
September 21, 2011September 21, 2011

Aqua America Inc. and Penn Virginia Resource Partners (PVR) announced they have formed a joint venture, Aqua – PVR Water Services, to construct and operate a private pipeline system to supply fresh water to natural gas producers drilling in the Marcellus Shale in north-central Pennsylvania. The 12-inch diameter steel pipeline will largely parallel the trunkline of PVR’s gathering system in Lycoming County and will share PVR’s existing rights-of-way.

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Chief Gathering | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Dallas Twp, PA Approves Natural Gas Pipeline Near School
September 15, 2011September 15, 2011

On Wednesday, Dallas Township (Luzerne County), PA supervisors voted unanimously to approve an agreement with Chief Gathering to run a natural gas pipeline within a third of a mile of the Dallas district schools and through a local housing development. Some of the residents who attended the meeting strongly objected to the vote, accusing the supervisors of approving an agreement not available for review by residents and accusing Chief and other drilling industry companies of “monster arrogance.”

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Bradford County | Energy Services | Fayette County | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pentex Pipeline | Peregrine Keystone Gas Pipeline | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Washington County

Two More Gathering Pipelines Seek PA Public Utility Status
September 14, 2011September 14, 2011

Even though Laser Northeast Gathering has withdrawn its application to become a public utility with the power of eminent domain as MDN reported yesterday, two other pipeline companies with applications before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission continue to move forward. Peregrine Keystone Gas Pipeline plans to construct a gathering line in Greene, Fayette and Washington counties in western PA, and Pentex Pipeline plans a gathering pipeline in Bradford County in northeast PA.

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