Northeast

Construction of Royal Dutch Shell plc’s multi-billion dollar ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete, while the 98-mile pipeline system that would feed the facility is 95% complete, a company executive said Tuesday, noting that the Covid-19 pandemic has complicated the project. “All of the major equipment is up, all of the modules…

An underground natural gas liquids (NGL) storage project in Ohio — seen as key to the Appalachian Basin’s petrochemical buildout — has hit another snag as its backers have withdrawn their permits in the face of a lawsuit from environmental groups.  The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) last week cancelled three permits to drill…

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (Transco) has agreed to pay nearly $1 million in penalties and environmental donations for violations that occurred during the construction of its Atlantic Sunrise expansion project, Pennsylvania regulators said Tuesday.  The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said it has collected a civil penalty of $736,294 from Transco for…

FERC on Thursday turned back a rehearing on a 2-1 vote regarding its prior approval for Appalachian natural gas takeaway Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP) to extend the system. The environmental impacts for the Southgate extension are acceptable, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled in its regular meeting. Chairman Neil Chatterjee and James P. Danly…

Citing adverse impacts at a horizontal directional drill (HDD) site in southeastern Pennsylvania, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has ordered Sunoco Pipeline LP to reroute part of its Mariner East (ME) system. Sunoco will need to “take all steps necessary, including the submission of appropriate applications and supporting materials for permit amendments,” to…

Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. has exited the Marcellus Shale, announcing Monday that it had closed the sale of its interests in properties in western Pennsylvania to an undisclosed buyer.  Sumitomo, which entered the play in September 2010, did not disclose how much it earned for its 30% working interest in assets operated by PennEnergy…

An administrative law judge has allowed Sunoco Pipeline LP to resume horizontal directional drilling (HDD) on a stretch of its Mariner East pipeline system in southeast Pennsylvania, overturning an order from state regulators that stopped construction last week. Sunoco appealed the order to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), which oversees decisions made by the…

Sunoco Pipeline LP is challenging a recent directive from state regulators to suspend work on a horizontal directional drill (HDD) in Chester County, PA, needed to complete parts of its embattled Mariner East pipeline system. A prolonged construction stoppage at the site in West Whiteland Township, dubbed HDD 360, creates “a significant risk of adverse…

Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, developer of the contentious 2 million Dth/d, 300-mile natural gas conduit, plans to donate up to $19.5 million for conservation efforts in Virginia and West Virginia, where the unfinished pipeline is routed. The commitment is part of an agreement between the developer and conservation groups the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) and…