Processing Plants

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | PVR Midstream | PVR Partners

PVR Announces $380 Million Investment in NE PA Marcellus
May 22, 2012May 22, 2012

Penn Virginia Resource Partners (PVR) is kicking up its commitment to the Marcellus Shale in northeastern PA a notch. Yesterday they announced they would invest $380 million on Marcellus Shale pipeline projects including a new extension to its natural gas pipeline in Lycoming County, PA. The announcement also reveals that they have commitments from Shell, Southwestern, Range and Inflection for the extra capacity and services. Yesterday PVR completed a previously announced deal to acquire Chief Gathering.

From the PVR press release:

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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Marshall County | Processing Plants | West Virginia

High Paying Jobs Come to Marshall County, WV Processing Plant
May 21, 2012May 21, 2012

Some high paying jobs are on the way to Marshall County, WV courtesy of a new natural gas processing plant being built by Dominion and opening in December. What’s good paying? How does $30 per hour sound?

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Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | Ohio | Processing Plants

Location for OH NGL Processing Plant Identified
May 14, 2012May 14, 2012

We now know the specific location of a previously announced $400 million shale gas collection and processing plant being built in Columbiana County, Ohio by a joint venture between Chesapeake Energy, M3 Midstream and EV Energy Partners.

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Beaver County | Butler County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Rex Energy | Sumitomo

MarkWest Buys Keystone Midstream for $512M
May 8, 2012May 7, 2012

Pipeline giant MarkWest has just gobbled up another, albeit much smaller, competitor. MarkWest announced yesterday it is purchasing Keystone Midstream for $512 million. Keystone is owned by Stonehenge Energy Resources and Rex Energy with operations primarily in Butler County, PA.

As part of the deal, MarkWest will gain contracts and a partnership with Rex Energy and Sumitomo Corporation to transport and process their rapidly expanding production in the liquids-rich portion of the Marcellus Shale in Butler and Beaver counties in Pennsylvania. MarkWest and Rex are also exploring a deal for Utica Shale production in eastern Ohio.

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Antero Resources | Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Marshall County | Ohio County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Washington County | West Virginia

MarkWest Inks Two New Deals to Expand Processing in WV
May 8, 2012May 7, 2012

MarkWest has been in the news a lot lately, signing a raft of new agreements and even buying out a competitor. Last Friday, MarkWest announced they had signed an agreement (terms not disclosed) to expand MarkWest’s processing capacity in the Marcellus Shale to handle more Chesapeake production. The areas covered by the agreement include northern West Virginia (Brooke, Ohio and Marshall counties), and Washington County in Pennsylvania.

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Antero Resources | Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Marshall County | Ohio County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Washington County | West Virginia

MarkWest Inks Major New Deals with Chesapeake & Antero
May 4, 2012May 4, 2012

MarkWest announced today two major new agreements to provide expanded natural gas processing and pipeline capacity for Chesapeake Energy and Antero Resouces in the Marcellus Shale. The deal with Chesapeake covers Brooke, Ohio and Marshall counties in WV, and Washington County, PA. The deal with Antero covers Doddridge and Harrison counties in WV. The new agreements, which include processing natural gas liquids, mean MarkWest will build new gathering pipelines and add compressor stations to their existing operations.

From the MarkWest press release:

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Aither Chemicals | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kanawha County | Processing Plants | West Virginia

New Movement on the Aither Chemicals Cracker Plant in WV?
May 3, 2012May 3, 2012

A month and a half ago it seemed imminent that Aither Chemicals would announce they would build a new ethane cracker plant at the Bayer CropScience plant site at Institute Industrial Park, located in Kanawha County, near Charleston, WV (see this MDN story). Bayer CropScience, owner of the site, and MarkWest Energy, a huge pipeline company, were named as potential partners in the deal. But the expected announcement never came, and all has been silent since.

An article in the Charleston Daily Mail caught MDN’s eye, an article that says the local city of Nitro, WV have filed a petition with Kanawha County to annex 44 properties surrounding the Bayer CropScience plant. The properties in that area of the county are unincorporated—no official town or city municipal government control—and if Nitro annexes the property surrounding the plant, it prevents any other communities from trying to annex the plant itself at some future date.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Big Economic Impact of Midstream Projects in OH & PA
April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

A pair of stories about how the midstream is transforming western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio recently ran in the Youngstown, OH The Business Journal. Midstream refers to the infrastructure that gets natural gas to market, including pipelines and processing plants. Right now and for the foreseeable future, spending on midstream projects in Ohio is likely larger, from an economic impact standpoint, than exploration and production.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Monroe County | Noble County | Ohio | Processing Plants

Change in Location for MarkWest Processing Plant in Ohio
March 28, 2012March 28, 2012

A new natural gas processing plant to be built by MarkWest Energy was supposed to be built in Monroe County, Ohio, but the geography has now shifted west and the plant will be built in neighboring Noble County, Ohio instead.

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Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants

Private Investors Aim Their Money at Pipelines/Midstream
March 28, 2012March 28, 2012

Pipelines and the “midstream” are the next big investment opportunities for investors—so says an article by Bloomberg.

A quick primer on the oil and gas business. Drilling for oil and gas, often referred to as exploration and production (or E&P) is what is usually called “upstream.” The term “midstream” refers to the pipelines, compressor stations and processing plants that move and refine oil and gas. “Downstream” is the distribution and marketing of oil and gas to end customers. There’s some blurring of those lines; for example, big oil refineries are usually considered downstream. But you get the idea.

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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Regulation | Shell

Shell’s ‘Silent’ Partner in Building Cracker Plant: The EPA
March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

Shell will decide whether or not to build an ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA over the next two years (see this MDN story). If they decide to build, which seems likely, it will take between four and 10 years and $3 billion to build it. It’s a massive project. And Shell will have the federal Environmental Protection Agency looking over their shoulder the whole time, according to an EPA rep from Texas:

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Dominion Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Pipelines | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Property Values Up in Marshall, WV; Dominion Invests $1.2B
March 23, 2012March 23, 2012

Dominion Transmission is investing nearly $1.2 billion in Marshall County, WV. Almost half of that—$500 million—will be spent on a new gas processing facility near Natrium (see this MDN story). Earlier this week, Dominion officials updated Marshall County commissioners on the progress of the new facility and other projects underway.

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Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants

Chesapeake Talks About Pipelines for OH Processing Complex
March 22, 2012March 22, 2012

Last week, Chesapeake Energy announced it was partnering with M3 Midstream and EV Energy Partners to build a new $900 million gas processing complex in Ohio’s Harrison and Columbiana counties by the middle of next year (see this MDN story). At an industry conference this week, Chesapeake and its partners spoke about the pipelines they will run to the plants and between the plants:

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Aither Chemicals | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kanawha County | MarkWest Energy | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Aither Chemicals to Announce WV Ethane Cracker Plant
March 20, 2012March 19, 2012

One of the companies that has been sniffing around the concept of building an ethane cracker plant in the Marcellus/Utica region is Aither Chemicals. MDN wrote about Aither’s interest in building a cracker plant in West Virginia back in January (see this MDN story). Aither retained a Pittsburgh investment firm to help them secure funding for the project.

It appears Aither has found a couple of partners and will make an announcement on Wednesday about their plan to build an ethane cracker plant in Institute Industrial Park, located near Charleston, WV. One of the partners is the current owner of the site: Bayer CropScience. The other partner is pipeline giant MarkWest Energy.

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Caiman Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Williams

Williams Buys Caiman Eastern Midstream for $2.5 Billion
March 20, 2012March 19, 2012

Williams announced yesterday that it will buy Caiman Energy subsidiary Caiman Eastern Midstream for $2.5 billion. Caiman Midstream has a major presence in the wet gas area of the Marcellus and Utica Shale play. The acquisition will give Williams a major pipeline gathering network in northern West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, along with two processing facilities and a fractionator. Williams says by 2020 the Caiman system will be gathering more than 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas along with 300,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids and condensate.

In addition to the acquisition, the Caiman Energy parent company will partner with Williams in a new joint venture to further develop new midstream infrastructure in the Utica Shale. From the Williams press release:

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Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Second Company Interested in Building Cracker Plant IDed
March 19, 2012March 19, 2012

There’s no doubt that last week’s announcement by Shell that it intends to build a cracker plant in Pennsylvania sent political shockwaves through West Virginia, a state that heavily courted Shell (see this MDN story). West Virginia’s Democrat governor, Earl Ray Tomblin, is doing damage control by leaking information to favored reporters that Shell was not the only game in town, and in fact was a longshot:

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