It Never Quits -- Now It's The $10 Billion Petchem Growth Engine For Appalachia; A "Six-Pack" Pipeline -- September 6, 2016

Updates

September 7, 2016: see first comment regarding Rogersville Shale. Posted over at YouTube earlier this summer:


 

Original Post

 

From Rigzone:

Supporters of a proposed massive infrastructure project in Appalachia say that it would provide a strong impetus for growth in the region's petrochemicals sector.

"The Appalachian Storage Hub is needed to take full advantage of chemical and plastic raw materials found in the Marcellus, Utica and Rogersville shales," Kevin DiGregorio, executive director of the economic development non-profit Chemical Alliance Zone, Inc. (CAZ), said of the proposed $10 billion natural gas transmission and storage project that would provide regional access to natural gas liquids (NGL) from shale plays in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

The storage and distribution system would comprise underground storage facilities for ethane – and possibly other NGL such as propane and butane – as well as pipelines to move ethane and other raw materials to cracker and other manufacturing facilities, DiGregorio explained. "The proposed 'six-pack' pipeline system would transport methane, ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene and chlorine to manufacturing facilities throughout the region," he said.

NGL likely would be stored in depleted natural gas fields, depleted salt domes or other natural underground caverns, noted DiGregorio. Exactly where the hub would be located remains undetermined, but experts reportedly are exploring candidate sites.

Geology researchers from universities in West Virginia and Ohio are compiling a list of the top three to five potential locations in the quad-state region based on various technical criteria.

Much of Appalachia's existing chemical and plastic manufacturing capacity straddles the corridors of the Ohio River and its main tributaries. New capital projects – particularly Shell's ethane cracker near Pittsburgh and PTTGC America's proposed ethane cracker in Belmont County, Ohio – would also enjoy easy river access to facilitate transport of raw materials, products and equipment. The benefits of having a multibillion-dollar storage hub would extend well beyond the locality and state hosting it.

"With the accomplishment of the built-for-purpose Appalachian Storage Hub, the citizens of all four states stand to gain in a similar way," he predicted. "The petrochemical industry, and innovation engines associated with it, will grow with the availability of critical raw materials and intermediates delivered in a safe and environmentally sound manner."

The 21st century: The American Energy century.

Much more at the link.