Ethane

Pennsylvania has a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to snare between $2.7 billion and $3.7 billion in natural gas liquid (NGL) investment, sparking a “manufacturing renaissance” that includes more ethane cracking plants, petrochemical and plastics facilities, Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday.

Antero Resources Corp. is guiding for continued improvements in natural gas liquids (NGL) pricing in 2017, and its acreage holdings and infrastructure position mean the company is ready to take advantage, management told analysts.

Pennsylvania will soon release a study it commissioned that shows the Appalachian Basin is uniquely positioned to compete in the global petrochemicals market, with enough ethane available to support up to four more ethane crackers in addition to Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC’s planned facility.

After a series of contentious public hearings, Potter Township, PA, supervisors late Wednesday unanimously approved a conditional-use permit that allows Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC to proceed with construction of its multi-billion dollar ethane cracker.

U.S ethane production is expected to increase over the next two years as the petrochemical industry consumes more and new export facilities ramp-up their overseas shipments, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latestShort-Term Energy Outlook.

Potter Township, PA, supervisors have approved a motion to draft a conditional-use permit for Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC’s multi-billion dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County. The supervisors, who delayed approving the permit last month after a public hearing stretched over two days, must still approve the language and details included in the permit at another public hearing. The township is concerned about noise, pollution and traffic, among other things. Hearings on the matter have been contentious, according to local news media reports. The facility would be built on about 400 acres near the Ohio River in Potter and Center Townships. It would have the capacity to consume roughly 100,000 b/d of ethane. The company is still waiting on other regulatory approvals.

Potter Township, PA, supervisors have requested more information and delayed approval of a conditional-use permit for Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC’s multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County.

The North American petrochemical complex is enjoying a stunning renaissance from flexible natural gas supply and low commodity prices, but uncertainty is looming from a surfeit of manufacturing capacity, strengthening overseas competition and a Trump presidency that has promised to revamp trade, executives said Thursday.

Shell Pipeline Company LPis holding a binding open season through Nov. 18 for the 107,000 b/d ethane pipeline system that will feed its planned cracker in Western Pennsylvania’s Beaver County. The Falcon Ethane Pipeline Systemwould have two legs and three source points to receive ethane from processing and fractionation facilities in Southwest Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio (see Daily GPI, Aug. 16). Shell said that if shipper demand exceeds the system’s initial offered capacity then it would be expanded to accommodate committed volumes. Shell plans to begin construction on the cracker late next year and has said operations would begin in the early 2020s (see Daily GPI, June 7). Construction of the pipeline is scheduled to begin in late 2018. More information about the open season can be found at Shell Pipeline’s website.