Tyler County, WV Mentioned as Candidate for $10B NGL Storage Hub
In May 2016, MDN brought you the news that a researcher at West Virginia University (WVU) believes a natural gas liquids (NGL) storage hub is what the Marcellus/Utica region really needs (see WVU Researcher Says Marcellus/Utica Needs an Ethane Storage Hub). According to Brian Anderson, director of WVU’s Energy Institute, without ethane storage (and pipelines) the Marcellus/Utica region risks seeing its abundant ethane leave the area, mostly heading to the Gulf Coast. We need that ethane here, in our area. Kevin DiGregorio, executive director of the Chemical Alliance Zone, also took up the cause in an editorial in July 2016 (see WV, OH, PA, KY Should Cooperate on $10B NGL Storage Hub). Since that time we’ve run a number of stories about the proposed $10 billion NGL storage hub for the Marcellus/Utica. In particular, West Virginia’s two U.S. senators, Shelley Moore Capito (Republican) and Joe Manchin (Democrat) have been pushing hard for such a hub (see WV Senators Ask Trump to Create NGL Storage Hub Commission). It has been thought that WV and PA and OH would need to cooperate to help fund such a project. Even the mighty Shell cracker is “only” costing $6 billion! So $10 billion is almost incomprehensible. But then everything changed last week when we told you we now have a pretty good idea of how the project will get funded–by the Chinese (see China Agrees to Invest Amazing $83.7 BILLION in WV Shale, Petchem). West Virginia has, from the beginning, been the state most often mentioned as the location for such a storage hub–but until now no specific site has come across our radar. That’s changed. With money flowing from China for a bevy of shale-related projects, different locations across the Mountain State are speaking up. Tyler County is the latest, saying they are under consideration for the $10B NGL storage hub, and they will do “whatever needs to be done” to win the project. There are, however, two other locations in WV also under consideration…
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By our reckoning, Antero Resources’ $275 million wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County, WV is either already operational, or will be within the next few days (sometime this week). In 2015 Antero hired Veolia Water Technologies Inc. to build a new shale wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County (see 
We’re still reeling after yesterday’s announcement that China has agreed to invest $83.7 billion in the State of West Virginia–largely in shale and shale-related petrochemical projects (see 
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!…
The “Art of the Deal” is still alive and well for Donald Trump. Trump along with an entourage of various state officials are currently on a trade mission in Asia. This morning (our time) a flurry of announcements were issued about Trump (and others) convincing China to invest $250 billion (a staggering number!) in various projects in the U.S. A whopping $83.7 billion of that (a full third!!) will be invested in one state–West Virginia. And the WV investment, according to the announcement, will be in “shale gas and chemical manufacturing projects.” The investment will come over the next 20 years, so yes, we’ll believe it when we see it. However, we cannot overstate how big and how good this news is for our friends in the Mountain State. While no specific projects are mentioned, we get this enticing tidbit from the announcement: “The projects will focus on power generation, chemical manufacturing, and underground storage of natural gas liquids and derivatives.” Sounds to us like we now know where the $10 billion NGL storage facility will be located (see 
The International (non-U.S.) Baker Hughes rig count for October 2017 was 951, up 20 from the 931 counted in September 2017, and up 31 from the 920 counted in October 2016. The U.S. rig count for October 2017 was 922, down 18 from the 940 counted in September 2017, but up 378 from the 544 counted in October 2016. Notice that we have almost as many rigs operating in the U.S. as the entire rest of the world (minus Canada). Canada’s rig count has improved a lot since earlier this year. However, Canada’s October rig count drooped a bit–204 in October (down 4 from September) but up 48 from October 2016. What about rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica? Pennsylvania lost one rig and ran an average of 32 rigs during October, versus Ohio running 29 rigs and West Virginia running 15 rigs, the same as September…
We have to confess this story is purely for amusement purposes–ours and yours. In our daily trawl of the news related to “Marcellus Shale” we spotted this headline: “Group hopes to add tiny houses to Wheeling Island.” We thought, What in the world do tiny houses on Wheeling Island (Wheeling, WV) have to do with the Marcellus? So we read the article to find out. Anyone watching HGTV has, at one point or another, watched a program about “tiny houses.” There’s even an HGTV show called Tiny House Hunters. “Tiny houses” are actual stick-built homes that are under 500 square feet of living space. Think really-small efficiency apartment. Except it’s a real house–sort of. The average American home is 1,780 square feet of living space. (If you’re not familiar with the tiny house movement, 
In August MDN told you the West Virginia Oil & Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) plans to push, once again, for what MDN calls forced pooling lite in the next session of the legislature scheduled for early 2018 (see 
Hold on or you might get whiplash. In March, the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) issued a federal water crossing permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA (see 
Last week the The Independent Power Producers (IPPs) of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia wrote an official letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) detailing their objection to a proposed plan by the Dept. of Energy (DOE) to give special treatment to electric power generating facilities powered by coal and nuclear plants. The DOE recently ordered FERC to devise new market rules favoring coal and nukes on the premise they contribute to “grid resiliency.” The IPPs writing the letter in opposition represent at least 26 shale gas-fired electric plant projects across the three states, which will contribute $21 billion to those state economies and generate 20,000+ jobs. Below we have the letter sent to FERC by the IPPs. That letter prompted our friends at Energy in Depth to produce a list of the projects the IPPs are building (or have built) in the tri-state area. It is an impressive list. We liked it and grabbed it to share with the MDN audience…
Cunningham Energy is a small oil driller based in West Virginia. In 2015, Cunningham struck oil in the Big Injun sandstone formation in Clay County, WV (see 
EQT’s Equitrans (pipeline) Expansion Project is on track to begin construction by the end of this year–likely sometime in November. We first covered this project in 2015 (see 
In March, the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) issued a federal water crossing permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA (see 
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…