Partnership Plans Project To Handle Marcellus Shale Ethane

MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources, LLC, a partnership between MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P., The Energy & Minerals Group and Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. announced a combined pipeline and marine project for ethane produced in the Marcellus Shale Basin. The project is anticipated to have initial capacity to transport up to 50,000 bpd of ethane to Gulf Coast markets as soon as the second quarter of 2012 and could be scaled to transport higher volumes to support additional ethane production in the Marcellus region. MarkWest Liberty has been working with key producers and petrochemical consumers since late 2009 and the project is supported by key producers including Range Resources Corp. and Chesapeake Energy Corp.
  The Mariner Project includes MarkWest Liberty making minor modifications to its processing facilities to recover sufficient ethane to allow the residue gas to meet interstate gas pipeline specifications and installing additional facilities at its Houston, PA processing and fractionation complex to separate the ethane for delivery to downstream Mariner Project facilities. MarkWest Liberty will also construct a 45-mile pipeline from the Houston complex to an interconnection with an existing Sunoco Logistics pipeline at Delmont, PA. The ethane will be transported to an existing East Coast facility where Sunoco Logistics will construct refrigerated ethane storage facilities. The ethane will then be transported via marine vessel to premium markets in the Gulf Coast. In addition, the existing Sunoco Logistics pipeline crosses many of the large pipelines transporting natural gas into the northeast, which will provide multiple ethane blending options.