Another company has purchased a chunk of land in the Appalachian Basin for hydrocarbon storage and terminal operations.

Ergon Inc. bought seven parcels of land for more than $7 million in Lawrence County, OH, where about 100,000 bbl of crude oil storage tanks and a dock exist on a 47-acre stretch along the Ohio River. The company purchased the land from Keystone Industries LLC in the county seat of Ironton, about 70 miles west of Charleston, WV. Ergon said the facility improves its ability to purchase and transport crude oil in the Ohio River Valley.

Ergon has had a presence in the region since 1997 when it purchased the Quaker State refinery in Newell, WV. Mississippi-based Ergon, which has refining, marketing and transportation segments, will use the facility to store and sell oil produced in the basin, which is expected to continue rising with further development of the Utica Shale.

Ergon’s facility is just the latest in a series of similar projects announced throughout Ohio and West Virginia. Work is under way at the former Ormet Corp. aluminum smelting plant site, which straddles both states, to transform it into a large-scale port and central service terminal for the oil and gas industry (see Shale Daily, Nov. 3). A former cold rolling steel mill in Yorkville, OH, is being converted to support water treatment, dry storage and water handling services and in Parkersburg, WV, a crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids handling facility opened over the summer (see Shale Daily, Sept. 11; July 15).