Beaver

A national trucking fleet has landed a Pennsylvania state grant for nearly $500,000 to support its development of a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in Beaver County, while Waco, TX-based Central Freight Lines Inc. recently purchased 100 CNG Freightliners trucks.

Shell Chemical LP is offering to pay western Pennsylvania localities millions for lost tax revenue affected by its proposed “world-scale” ethane cracker. The Beaver County Commissioners said the Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary had made an initial proposal to pay localities 110% of the annual property tax revenue currently being paid by Horsehead Holding Corp., which owns the proposed cracker site. State law caps payments-in-lieu-of-taxes at 110%. County tax records show Horsehead, a zinc producer, was assessed around $6.2 million for the 2013 tax year. At 110%, Shell’s offer could amount to an annual payment of about $6.82 million over 22 years, but the county said negotiations are needed. Local stakeholders are preparing to file an application to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for a Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone for the ethane cracker site. Such a designation would, if approved, give Shell up to 22 years of tax exceptions and abatements.

Royal Dutch Shell plc will decide within the next 18 to 24 months whether to build an ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, according to a company executive.

With rapidly expanding development in the oily Bakken Shale and Three Forks formations of North Dakota, Enbridge Energy Partners LP (EEP) and Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (EIF) said Monday that additional shippers have finalized capacity commitments to the Bakken Expansion Program and the companies expect that additional capacity will be required by producers in the near future.