Processing Plants

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    Weirton, WV Tries to Interest the Chinese in a Cracker Plant

    The early bird catches the worm. Not even a day had gone by when Patrick Ford, the executive director of the Weirton-based Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle, piped up and signaled China that Weirton would be a great place to locate an ethane cracker plant. Ford said Weirton sits roughly halfway between Shell’s cracker plant under construction, and a planned cracker plant by PTT Global in Belmont County, OH. Weirton was considered for both of those projects but apparently there was an issue getting enough contiguous acreage for a large-scale project like a cracker. However, Ford says those issues are now resolved and Weirton is open for cracker business. Ford told a reporter, “We want to see a third ethane cracker in this region — and it should be in Brooke or Hancock County” (note that Weirton straddles both). We like Weirton’s plucky opportunism. Businesses and projects in WV should not sit on their hands. Get that Chinese money and get it quick, before it disappears into someone else’s pocket!…
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    Milestone: Construction Begins on Shell Cracker Plant Buildings

    A major milestone has been reached in the mighty Shell $6 billion ethane cracker facility project. Over the past year or so site preparation has been vigorous. Work at the site in Monaca (Beaver County), PA has included building bridges, relocating a state highway, improving existing interchanges, repositioning a rail line, and preparing foundations for the new complex. The prep work is now largely done–and this week begins construction of the buildings that will house four processing units–the ethane cracker itself and three polyethylene units. Also part of this next (final) phase of construction: a 900-foot long cooling tower, rail and truck loading facilities, a water treatment plant, an office building and a laboratory. Oh! And let’s not forget that Shell will also build a 250 megawatt electric generating plant that will provide all of the electricity needed at the facility–powered by Marcellus Shale gas, of course! Here’s an update from Shell, with a picture of the site as it is now…
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    Shell Taps Brit to Run the $6B Ethane Cracker Project in Monaca

    Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker plant facility in Monaca (Beaver County), PA is about to ramp up construction of the numerous buildings that will house the equipment. Since 2014, Ate Visser, vice president of Appalachia petrochemicals at Shell Chemical, has been the guy in charge of the project (see Shell Exec Shares Inside Story of Why They Chose PA for Cracker). However, beginning now, Hilary Mercer, a native of Manchester, England (has worked at Shell for the past 30 years) is now the woman in charge of the project. Mercer is the new vice president of the cracker plant project. She has an interesting, globe-trotting history. Mercer says she likes to build “big projects.” Prior to landing in her role in PA, Mercer was in South Korea overseeing construction of the largest floating structure ever built. But building the huge cracker facility isn’t the only thing that jazzes Mercer about the project. She’s pumped at the prospect of building the commercial side–building a business from the ground up. Finding customers, branding, everything that comes with creating demand for the output from the mighty cracker facility. Here’s a look at the new leader of the Shell cracker plant project…
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    Locals Pumped About OH Cracker; WV Cracker Still Not Dead

    Belmont County Port Authority Director Larry Merry says he “can’t think of a single reason” why PTT Global Chemical won’t build a promised $6 billion ethane cracker facility in Dilles Bottom. Mike Jacoby, VP of business development for the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth concurs, saying he is “optimistic” and sees “no problems” ahead for the PTT cracker. In addition to locals in Ohio pumped about the PTT cracker and the promised final investment decision by the end of this year, there is still hope for a cracker plant in West Virginia too. WV officials say Braskem is still expressing interest in a cracker project in the Parkersburg area. Here’s some of the chitter-chatter among pumped-up officials attending a forum last month in Wheeling, WV…
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    Williams Launches Major WV Expansion to Serve Southwestern Energy

    Yesterday Williams announced a new, major deal with Southwestern Energy to expand its network of gathering pipelines and processing facilities in West Virginia, to serve Southwestern’s increasingly aggressive drilling program in the state. Williams will expand its its Oak Grove processing plant to handle extra wet gas that will flow into it from Southwestern’s 135,000-acre wet gas (i.e. NGL) drilling program in Marshall and Wetzel counties. Southwestern targets wet gas in the Marcellus and Upper Devonian in those two counties. The expansion will give the Oak Grove plant the capability to process an additional 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of wet gas. But wet gas isn’t the only focus. Williams is also expanding its pipeline network to an additional 71,500 dry gas acres, again in Marshall and Wetzel counties, targeting Southwestern’s dry gas Utica program. In the same announcement, almost as an afterthought (but for us is a really big deal), Williams announced it will connect its system to Columbia Pipeline’s (now TransCanada) Leach XPress and Mountaineer XPress pipelines, “to boost market access and diversify gas pricing opportunities.” Leach XPress, which is part of a project including Rayne XPress, will send gas all the way to the Gulf Coast (see Columbia Gas: $1.75B for 2 Projects to Send Marcellus Gas to Gulf). Leach XPress began construction earlier this year. Mountaineer XPress will send gas to Leach, Kentucky (as will Leach Xpress), and from there on to a variety of other markets in the Midwest and South–as well as the Gulf Coast (see Details on Columbia Pipeline Mountaineer XPress Pipeline Project). Mountaineer Xpress received a favorable final environmental impact state from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July of this year, but is still waiting on other permits before it begins construction. Here’s the news about Williams expanding in the Mountain State…
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    Shell Holding Career Expo in SWPA Oct 12 to Discuss Cracker Jobs

    While the Teamsters are holding a job fair today and tomorrow in Harrisburg to recruit for pipeline workers (see today’s lead story), next week Shell and the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) will hold two back-to-back career expos on the other side of the state, in the Pittsburgh region, to “inform residents about all the current and emerging job opportunities” at Shell’s ethane cracker plant. On Thursday, Oct. 12, Shell will host the Pennsylvania Chemicals Military Petrochemical Day from 8am to 2pm–for former military service members. The event will be held in room 9103 of CCBC’s Learning Resources Center. Then at 6pm on the 12th, a free career expo will be held at the CCBC Dome–open to the public. Preregistration is not required, but is encouraged. This is your chance to meet with folks face-to-face who can help you land a job working on (or in) the mighty Shell ethane cracker. Don’t miss it!…
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    Big Green Group PennFuture Targets Shell Cracker w/Smear Campaign

    Last week the radicals at Big Green group PennFuture launched an advertising campaign that targets both U.S. Steel Corp. and the might Shell ethane cracker. The ad campaign, called “Your Toxic Neighbor” includes big ads on the sides of buses and on billboards in the Pittsburgh region. From the beginning of PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, PennFuture radicals have populated his administration. Two PennFuture radicals previously in the Wolf cabinet are now gone: former Secretary of Policy, John Hanger (now gone, supposedly to spend more time with his wife and daughter in Massachusetts) and former Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley (fired for conspiring with Big Green groups and getting caught doing it). The one remaining PennFuture radical still in the Wolf cabinet is Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Cindy Dunn. Time for Wolf to show her the door too (see Time to Fire Cindy Dunn, Last of Wolf Admin’s PennFuture Radicals). PennFuture tries to pass itself off as some sort of reasonable, pro-environment “let’s just make PA a better place to live” kind of group. Nothing of the sort. They are completely out of the mainstream, which is why we call them what they are: RADICALS. Here’s the latest smear campaign from a fringe group…
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    PTT Global Signs Memorandum with Ohio re Belmont Ethane Cracker

    On Monday, Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, president and CEO of PTT Global Chemical (Thailand’s largest petrochemical company) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with JobsOhio regarding PTT’s proposed ethane cracker plant. The MOU pledges to “enhance the well-being and quality of life” for those living in the area near the proposed cracker plant. PTT announced in April 2015 they are interested in building a $5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). Since that time, all of the signs have been positive. PTT has said a final investment decision will be forthcoming by the end of this year. The MOU signing ceremony on Monday is yet more evidence that this project will happen. The ceremony itself is kind of interesting. It was not held in Ohio–but in Washington, D.C. where a trade delegation from Thailand was visiting (Punmeechaow was part of the delegation). So John Minor, president of JobsOhio, traveled to D.C. for the signing ceremony, which was held in what we can only describe as a garage…
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    Ethane Storage a Hot Topic at Shale Insight – Who Will Use It?

    One of the major themes at last week’s Shale Insight conference was NGLs (natural gas liquids), in particular ethane–and how the petrochemical industry that uses those NGLs will revolutionize the economic landscape of western PA, eastern OH, and northern WV–the tri-state area. One of the hottest of the hot topics is ethane storage. As we reported in early September, a research team from West Virginia University spent the past year studying geologic regions in 50 counties in the Marcellus/Utica Shale region to see if our region would support a proposed $10 billion ethane storage hub (see WVU Appalachia Ethane Storage Hub Final Report – We Need it Bad). The conclusion? Heck yeah! WVU researchers released their findings in a 181-page report titled “A Geologic Study to Determine the Potential to Create an Appalachian Storage Hub for Natural Gas Liquids.” Among the study’s findings: A shale ethane storage hub could help create $36 billion in investment and more than 100,000 permanent jobs. The report and its findings were on the lips of a number of speakers at Shale Insight…
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    Shale Insight 2017 – Day Two News Roundup

    Shale Insight 2017 is now in the books. Another year, another great show. MDN editor Jim Willis is back in the office, chained to his computer. Next week Jim will share notes he took at the conference. For now, below are highlights from other news source from Day Two of the event. Unfortunately Jim had to leave before the closing keynote, given by former Trump White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. But others were there to hear what Spicer had to say. Day Two began with a focus on the Shell ethane cracker. Members of the Shell team were on hand to describe how this critical project affects the region, and where it fits in the Marcellus/Utica landscape. One of the Shell team members said the skyline at the Beaver County site will change dramatically over the next 12 months as the buildings housing the various components are built. It was a fascinating talk with lots of information. Below is a roundup from Day Two…
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    Shale Insight 2017 – Day One News Roundup

    MDN is once again attending the Shale Insight event–in Pittsburgh. Yesterday was the first day of the event. The crowd was definitely smaller than last year when then-candidate Trump spoke to attendees. However, Day One saw a number of heavy-hitting speakers, including Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette, XTO Energy President Sara Ortwein, Chevron Appalachia President Stacey Olson, and People’s Natural Gas CEO Morgan O’Brien. Marcellus Shale Coalition President Dave Spigelmyer served as master of ceremonies and seemed to be everywhere-present during the event (how does he DO that?). From the opening session to the exhibit floor to attending the breakout sessions, MDN editor Jim Willis made the rounds–and took lots of notes. In the coming days he will write up those notes and share them. For now, we have links and extracts of articles from other publications attending and reporting on this year’s Shale Insight…
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    Community College of Beaver County Preps Students for Cracker Jobs

    Looking to land a job at Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker plant when it’s up and running in a few years? A new program set up by Shell with the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) may give you a leg up. CCBC offers a program in process technology that leads to an associate’s degree. As of this spring, 45 people were enrolled. CCBC expects 70 people to enroll this fall. CCBC’s process technology degree is just one part of their effort to train people for advanced manufacturing careers with Shell and other petrochemical companies. CCBC is partnering with businesses, nonprofits, other colleges to form the Tri-State Advanced Manufacturing Consortium which will help prepare students and retrain workers to meet the needs of energy and manufacturing companies throughout the region. More deets on getting trained for a future cracker job…
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    New MarkWest Processing Plant Approved by Smith Twp in SWPA

    Smith Township, Washington, PA

    In August MarkWest Energy (now part of MPLX) briefed Smith Township (Washington County, PA) officials on plans to build a new natural gas processing plant (see Update on MarkWest Processing Plant Proposal for Smith Twp). The project was first introduced last fall, but then went quiet until May of this year. MarkWest plans to initially building one cryogenic plant and one de-ethanizer at what it calls the Harmon Creek Complex. Eventually MarkWest wants to build four cryogenic plants and two de-ethanizers at complex. Smith officials understandably had questions and wanted certain things in writing before they would consider issuing a “conditional use” permit for the project. Apparently the questions got answered. On Monday, Smith supervisors voted 3-0 to approve the project. However, the backhoes are not firing up just yet. Before the project can get built, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection must issue an air permit (GP-5) for the project. Anti fossil fuelers were not happy with Smith’s approval, claiming MarkWest has been hiding the full scope of the project…
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    WV State Agency Rejects Anti Appeal to Stop US Methanol Plant

    Antis in West Virginia who filed an appeal of a permit allowing US Methanol to build a plant in Institute, WV have been rejected by the WV Air Quality Board. Earlier this month US Methanol broke ground in Institute (Kanawha County), WV for its very first methanol production plant (see US Methanol Breaks Ground on First Plant in West Virginia). This is the first of what is rumored to be up to five such methanol plants to be built in the Mountain State by US Methanol. Methanol plants convert natural gas into methanol, used as a chemical feedstock (or raw material) to create other things, like gasoline, antifreeze, plastic bottles–even LED and LCD screens. A number of dignitaries attended the groundbreaking in Institute, including colorful WV Governor Jim Justice. People Concerned, a Big Green group, has painted nightmare scenarios that “if” a 1.2 million gallon methanol holding tank explodes, it’s the end of the world for anyone and everyone in the Institute area. In an unbelievable act of disgust, the attorney for People Concerned “reminded” the Air Quality Board that the location of the US Methanol plant is located next to “a historically black university”–implying there’s something racist about the plant and the so-called safety threats it may hold for black students. Loathsome. Fortunately the Air Quality Board refused the appeal by People Concerned, meaning the plant will continue construction as planned, going online by mid-next year…
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    US Methanol Breaks Ground on First Plant in West Virginia

    US Methanol broke ground yesterday in Institute (Kanawha County), WV for its very first methanol production plant. In August 2016 MDN was the first to share the news that US Methanol is building at least two, rumored up to five, methanol plants in the Mountain State (see Rumor: US Methanol Building 5 Methanol Plants in WV). MDN shared a rumor (based on a reliable source) that until we disclosed it, was not public knowledge: The first methanol plant US Methanol plans to build will be in Institute, WV, and the second in Belle, WV–both in the Charleston region. Methanol plants convert natural gas into methanol, used as a chemical feedstock (or raw material) to create other things, like gasoline, antifreeze, plastic bottles–even LED and LCD screens. A number of dignitaries attended the groundbreaking in Institute, including colorful WV Governor Jim Justice. A really cool factoid: the plant will be constructed from a deconstructed methanol plant from Brazil. Usually it’s the other way around, plants get shipped from the U.S. to other countries. This time a plant is coming “home” to the U.S. The new plant, called Liberty One, will open in mid-2018–supplied with plenty of cheap and abundant Marcellus/Utica shale gas…
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    Doddridge County, WV Tax Base Triples in 7 Yrs Thx to M-U Shale

    Yet another anti-shale argument falls. You read and hear plenty about a community’s tax base (i.e. property values) going down when/if shale drilling and associated infrastructure, like processing plants, come to town. That’s fake news. Here’s real news: In Doddridge County, WV, prior to the shale revolution visiting the county, the total assessed value for all properties in the county added up to $457.5 million. Seven years later, in 2017, with multiple wells drilled and massive new MarkWest natural gas processing plants built, total assessed value for all properties in Doddridge is now $1.4 BILLION. That’s a three-fold increase in seven years! Most of the increase comes from the oil and gas industry. Quite frankly, there’s no end in sight. Values will continue to rise in Doddridge…
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