Local News

Ethane pipeline to move forward

WHEELING – Sunoco Logistics will move forward with its plans to ship 345,000 total barrels of ethane, butane and propane per day to a complex near Philadelphia via its Mariner East I and II pipelines after the company reached a settlement with landowners in local counties.

This week, officials with Sunoco reached an out-of-court settlement with a group of landowners in Harrison and Jefferson counties regarding the 50-foot-wide permanent easements the company will place on their property to build the second Mariner pipeline. The second line will handle 275,000 barrels daily once it is operational, while the first line can already take 70,000 barrels per day.

“We have settled all of these cases out of court. We have reached agreements with the landowners who disagreed with our initial offers,” Sunoco spokesman Jeff Shields said. “This is a much preferable outcome for all involved.”

Recently, Millersburg, Ohio-based attorney Thom White said Sunoco was attempting to use eminent domain to take the property needed for the pipeline because his clients believed the price they were offered was too low.

White could not be reached for comment, but a secretary at his office also said the dispute had been resolved.

Though declining to specify how much Sunoco will pay the landowners to build the natural gas liquids pipeline, Shields said it will be “fair market value.”

“To maximize the value of the Utica and Marcellus, you have to take away the NGL,” Shields said of the natural gas liquids such as ethane, butane and propane.

This will be another ethane outlet for drillers working in the Marcellus and Utica shale region, which does not have an ethane cracker. Even as public officials in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia hope firms will build multi-billion-dollar ethane crackers in their states, firms such continue looking for ways to get rid of their ethane.

The U.S. Energy Information Administra-tion said domestic ethane production grew by an average of 212,000 barrels per day from 2010 to March of this year. Moreover, industry leaders believe ethane yields from just the Marcellus and Utica could reach 590,000 daily barrels by 2020, which is up from none at all in 2012.

Shields said the Mariner East II will consist of a 20-inch diameter steel pipe buried at least three feet underground. He said unlike a pipeline that ships natural gas, the project does not require a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. However, there are permits involved when the project will cross a body of water, he said.

Local News

Ethane pipeline to move forward

WHEELING – Sunoco Logistics will move forward with its plans to ship 345,000 total barrels of ethane, butane and propane per day to a complex near Philadelphia via its Mariner East I and II pipelines after the company reached a settlement with landowners in local counties.

This week, officials with Sunoco reached an out-of-court settlement with a group of landowners in Harrison and Jefferson counties regarding the 50-foot-wide permanent easements the company will place on their property to build the second Mariner pipeline. The second line will handle 275,000 barrels daily once it is operational, while the first line can already take 70,000 barrels per day.

“We have settled all of these cases out of court. We have reached agreements with the landowners who disagreed with our initial offers,” Sunoco spokesman Jeff Shields said. “This is a much preferable outcome for all involved.”

Recently, Millersburg, Ohio-based attorney Thom White said Sunoco was attempting to use eminent domain to take the property needed for the pipeline because his clients believed the price they were offered was too low.

White could not be reached for comment, but a secretary at his office also said the dispute had been resolved.

Though declining to specify how much Sunoco will pay the landowners to build the natural gas liquids pipeline, Shields said it will be “fair market value.”

“To maximize the value of the Utica and Marcellus, you have to take away the NGL,” Shields said of the natural gas liquids such as ethane, butane and propane.

This will be another ethane outlet for drillers working in the Marcellus and Utica shale region, which does not have an ethane cracker. Even as public officials in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia hope firms will build multi-billion-dollar ethane crackers in their states, firms such continue looking for ways to get rid of their ethane.

The U.S. Energy Information Administra-tion said domestic ethane production grew by an average of 212,000 barrels per day from 2010 to March of this year. Moreover, industry leaders believe ethane yields from just the Marcellus and Utica could reach 590,000 daily barrels by 2020, which is up from none at all in 2012.

Shields said the Mariner East II will consist of a 20-inch diameter steel pipe buried at least three feet underground. He said unlike a pipeline that ships natural gas, the project does not require a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. However, there are permits involved when the project will cross a body of water, he said.