Processing Plants

BP | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

BP: Trumbull County Needs More Pipelines, Processing Plants
December 18, 2012December 18, 2012

Yesterday at a press conference in Youngstown, OH, BP announced plans to move into a new office and warehouse space in the Youngstown Commerce Park (see this MDN story). At the same event, BP officials spoke about their concerns that pipeline and processing plant infrastructure in Trumbull and surrounding counties may be quickly overwhelmed once BP’s drilling program is in full swing.

What do BP’s public comments mean? More pipelines and processing plants are likely on the way in Trumbull County:

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Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnerVest | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | NGLs | Ohio | Processing Plants

Columbiana County NGL Plant On Track for May Opening
December 17, 2012December 17, 2012

An update on the excellent progress being made with the construction of a new $400 million natural gas liquids collection and processing plant being built in Hanoverton (Columbiana County), Ohio by M3 Midstream:

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Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV’s Burdette Still in Hunt for Ethane Cracker Plant
December 17, 2012December 17, 2012

West Virginia’s Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette, who has been in the hunt for an ethane cracker plant for several years now, is still upbeat on both Marcellus/Utica Shale drilling in the state, and on upbeat on the state’s chances to land an ethane cracker:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Wetzel County

MarkWest’s Mobley, WV Wet Gas Processing Plant Goes Online
December 13, 2012December 13, 2012

MarkWest Energy today announced the first of it’s three planned Mobley processing plants, located in Wetzel County, WV, is now online and producing. The plant is currently operating at 60% of capacity.

MarkWest’s announcement:

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Mahoning County | NiSource | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants

Mahoning Utica Pipeline/Processing Plant “Moving Forward”
December 13, 2012December 13, 2012

Back in July, MDN told you about a new joint venture between Hilcorp and NiSource to build a wet gas pipeline and processing plant in the Youngstown, Ohio area (see this MDN story). There is still no official location (yet) for the new project, which will cost between $300 and $500 million to build, but we now have a name for it: the Hickory Bend Pipeline System.

According to a NiSource spokesperson, Hickory Bend (the pipeline and the processing plant) is “moving forward.” What does that mean? It means the Mahoning Valley will soon see a big boost in jobs for construction workers and welders:

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Access Midstream Partners | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Williams

Chesapeake, Access & Williams in Complex 3-Way Midstream Deal
December 12, 2012December 12, 2012

Chesapeake Energy has sold off its remaining midstream operations (pipelines, compressors and processing plants) to Access Midstream Partners for $2.16 billion. The sale includes Chesapeake’s midstream assets in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region, along with assets in the Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Niobrara shale plays.

At the same time (keep your eye on the bouncing ball here), midstream giant Williams paid $2.4 billion to buy a 50% stake in Access Midstream. That is, the two deals are connected—Chesapeake to Access, Access to Williams. On paper, Chesapeake sold its midstream properties to Access, but it practice it seems the sale was actually to Williams via Access Midstream. In addition, Williams announced that Chesapeake is “supporting” their effort to build a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline from the Marcellus/Utica area to the Gulf Coast.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

$10 Billion+ in Utica Shale Infrastructure Coming to Ohio
December 10, 2012December 10, 2012

The Akron Beacon Journal ran an excellent round-up article on Sunday looking at the mammoth infrastructure investments (pipelines, processing facilities, etc.) being made in Ohio’s Utica and Marcellus Shale region—like in excess of $10 billion of investments already under way or planned for the near future.

Here’s a quick overview:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants

Northeast Oil Refineries, Powered by…
December 4, 2012December 4, 2012

PBF Energy, headquartered in Parsippany, NJ, purchased three northeast oil refineries over the past two years—two of them belonged to Valero (Paulsboro, NJ and Delaware City, DE), and the other was Sunoco’s Toledo, OH refinery. PBF paid a combined $1 billion for all three (and hundreds of millions to update them).

Last year the three refineries were profitable, brining in revenue of $16 billion—and this year they’ve already brought in $15 billion. PBF recently leased 2,500 rail cars to bring in Bakken Shale crude oil to help expand the operation. But the really interesting thing (to MDN) is how the three plants are powered:

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Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Utica East Ohio Midstream | Utica Shale

Ohio RR Company Signs Deal with Utica East to Ship NGLs
December 3, 2012December 3, 2012

Utica East Ohio Midstream’s new $900 million natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plant in Scio, Ohio is about to become connected—but not by pipelines alone. Genesee & Wyoming announced today that their subsidiary, Columbus & Ohio River Rail Road Company has signed a long-term agreement with Utica East to ship some 10,000 carloads of NGLs annually. The new NGL processing plant is due to go online in May 2013.

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Economic Impact | Hancock County | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | West Virginia

WV Refinery Expanding with Marcellus/Utica Crude Oil
November 30, 2012November 30, 2012

Ergon, Inc., a crude oil processor headquartered in Jackson, MS but with operations in other states, including West Virginia, announced Wednesday there’s enough crude oil flowing from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region that they are investing $78 million to add more refining capacity to their plant in Newell, WV.

From the Ergon press announcement:

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Aither Chemicals | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Aither Chemicals Still Wants to Build a Cracker Plant in WV
November 19, 2012November 19, 2012

Still more talk about an ethane cracker plant for West Virginia—this time from perennial ethane promoter Aither Chemicals. At last week’s Developing Unconventional Gas (DUG) East conference in Pittsburgh, Aither’s CFO said his company could build a new ethane cracker for a fraction of the cost Shell is proposing for their cracker in Monaca, PA. Another speaker expressed doubts that Shell will actually build their announced cracker plant in Monaca:

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Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Wood County

Wood County, WV in the Running for Ethane Cracker
November 15, 2012November 15, 2012

According to Kevin DiGregoria, executive director of the Chemical Alliance Zone West Virginia, Wood County, WV is one of the prime locations in the state being considered for a new ethane cracker plant. DiGregorio also said the Marcellus Shale will be around for at least 30 years and is “an economic grand slam” for the state.

DiGregoria was joined by WV Commerce Sec. Keith Burdette at a roundtable discussion in Wood County. Burdette, who has been in the hunt for a cracker plant for the state for nearly two years now, said he’s in regular contact with interested companies:

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Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Statewide OH

Ohio May Still Get an Ethane Cracker Plant
November 12, 2012November 12, 2012

Could Ohio (and for that matter West Virginia) still get their own ethane cracker plant? That would be a “yes” according to Cal Dooley, CEO of the American Chemistry Council. He was interviewed last week by Columbus Business First reporter Jeff Bell.

This is what Dooley had to say:

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Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EV Energy Partners | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Utica Shale

Hanoverton, OH NGL Processing Plant on Track for May 2013
November 12, 2012November 12, 2012

In May 2012, MDN told you about a new $400 million cryogenic processing plant to be built in Hanoverton (Columbiana County), Ohio by a joint venture between Chesapeake Energy, M3 Midstream and EV Energy Partners (see this MDN story). The plant will collect and process shale gas, separating out natural gas liquids like propane, butane and ethane. In early October we told you construction had begun and the first phase of the new plant is due to come online in May 2013 (see this MDN story).

Last week an official for M3 Midstream, one of the partners in the project, visited the construction site and said things are track to meet the “very aggressive” May 2013 opening date:

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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Noble County | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH

Antero Resources Inks Deal with MarkWest for Ohio Utica Shale
November 7, 2012November 7, 2012

On Monday MDN told you about Antero Resources’ sale of their Piceance Basin assets so they can laser focus on the Marcellus and Utica Shale region (see this MDN story). A day later—yesterday—Antero followed up that big announcement with another big announcement: They’ve signed a deal with MarkWest for pipelines and processing in Noble and Harrison counties (Ohio) to give Antero’s operations in the Ohio Utica Shale a boost. Interestingly, the Harrison County project will yield ethane that MarkWest/Antero will send to the new ATEX ethane pipeline that runs all the way to the Gulf.

Terms of the deal between Antero and MarkWest were not disclosed. Here’s the joint press release announcing the particulars of the deal:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Wetzel County

MarkWest Announces Third Mobley Processing Facility in WV
November 7, 2012November 7, 2012

MarkWest Energy announced today they are expanding and building a new addition to their Mobley complex in Wetzel County, WV. The new Mobley III processing facility will add another 200 million cubic feet of wet gas processing. EQT is mentioned by name as one of the customers for this added new capacity. Both EQT and Magnum Hunter Resources are customers for the first Mobley facility which is due to come online this month. A second Mobley processing facility will be done and online in 1Q13, and the Mobley III announced today will be built and online sometime in 4Q13, about a year from now.

The MarkWest press release about the Mobley complex in WV:

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