Posted on 01/03/2012 2:08:01 PM PST by thackney
A proposed pipeline project that could transport up to 190,000 barrels of ethane from Appalachian shale fields to the Texas Gulf Coast has secured enough customers to move forward, Enterprise Products Partners announced today.
The Houston company, which revealed two months ago that it had lined up its first long-term contract to use the pipeline, now says it has enough in place to make the project financially feasible. The 1,230-mile line is expected to be running in early 2014, taking advantage of the increased production of natural gas liquids and their lower price relative to oil-based liquids.
The willingness of shippers to commit to a term of at least 15 years reflects the long-term potential of shale development in the Appalachian region and provides us with the assurance necessary to build the midstream infrastructure that will facilitate further development of this important domestic resource, Enterprise president and CEO Michael A. Creel said in a statement.
A company spokesman declined to identify any of the newly signed customers or detail how much ethane they committed to purchase. In November, Enterprise announced it had signed Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. to a contract for 75,000 barrels daily.
In recent years, the Marcellus and Utica shale fields of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia have become a major hub for production of natural gas liquids. One of these, Ethane, a liquid form of natural gas, is feedstock for ethelyne, which in turn is a base material for many plastic products.
To complete the Appalachia-to-Texas project, Enterprise plans to build nearly 600 miles of pipeline from Washington County, Pa., to Cape Girardeau, Mo., then connect to an existing pipeline to Beaumont. The latter is one of two parallel pipelines that move refined products from Beaumont northward, but Enterprise spokesman Rick Rainey said the other, larger line is sufficient to meet demand.
Enterprise would then build a 55-mile connector pipeline to Mont Belvieu, where it has a storage complex, and other lines to petrochemical plants along the Gulf Coast.
Rainey said the project is expected to generate about 4,000 construction jobs and provide broader economic benefits to the petrochemical and pipeline industries and the communities that depend on them.
Obama will, in all probability, stop the program.
Are you saying that Texas will endure a permanent drought? Besides, Texas has plenty of water:
Build desalinization plants, or wait for rain.
I don’t disagree with you.
Not likely permanent it will only last the rest of our lives. Which will start in about 10 years
If it does become permanent we have much bigger problems then a drought.
10 years? We were told in the 70’s that we would be extinct like the Dino’s with an Ice Age. ( In 20 years) HUMMMM, I wouldn’t put to much stock in the enviro predictions.
But, sometimes Mother Nature needs to clean house.
The weak and to stupid from inbreeding don’t survive. The ones that survive are strong and healthy. Thus the next generation will flourish. The fires that hit pine trees will produce young vibrant Pine Trees. The rain will return. The Sun will rise and Texas will be even better than it is today.
That is an excellent idea considering most of the cost associated with pipelines is the excavation and back filling. Placing a water line next to the gas line might require some added trench depth but the mobilization costs would be the same. Dirt is dirt and the pipe is the cheap part. Lets see, 2 60’water lines and the gas line between them sounds “doABLE”.
Back in the 80’s I worked on a natural gas pipeline (42”) which ran from Canada to California. The new pipeline was buried alongside and existing 36” pipeline.
Canada set the terms... no natural gas could be sold to any business that was in direct competition with existing Canadian companies. Don’t know how they monitored that.
Interesting work on that pipeline that passed through our UA’s (44) local juristiction.
If your remark is not tongue in cheek, the best place to source the water is the furthest down the St. Lawrence River which is still freshwater.
Seriously, it would probably be cheaper to desalinate water from the gulf and pump it north.
We have been in the quaternary ice age for over a 2.5 million years and we be in the ice age for millions of years to come. What we call a little ice age is just a very small dip in our interglacial period which we called the Maunder Minimum. This article is just the latest of many articles on this subject.
I am sorry, don't follow media hype.
That is good. But the drought will be in about 10 years
Aqueduct pipe lines are up to 12’ not 60’. yes it would be a lot bigger then 3 or 4’ gas lines.
Aqueduct pipe lines are up to 12’ not 60’. yes it would be a lot bigger then 3 or 4’ gas lines.
if it wasn't for the nuclear power idiocy I would agree.
I've been doing pipeline work on and off for a couple decades. I would estimate the excavation and backfilling come far cheaper than the pipe itself, the pump stations and the land acquisition. Moving the dirt is little cost compared to them.
Enterprise and Genesis Energy to Build Crude Oil Gathering Pipeline in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico
In 2008, TransCanada Corporation proposed the construction of the 1,661-mile (2,673 km) Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta to refineries near Houston, Texas.[13][14] The proposed route of the pipeline crossed the eastern part of the Nebraska Sandhills; opponents of the project argued that this route posed an unacceptable risk to the Ogallala Aquifer owing to the possibility of contamination from oil spills.[15][16] In August 2011, an environmental-impact report by the U.S. State Department found the Sandhills route would be the most economically feasible, and would be unlikely to have significant environmental impacts.[15][17]
See also: Risk to Ogallala Aquifer
Yeah, me too. But take heart. There is a movement afoot...
Native Prairie Seed Harvested from Houston Area Parks for San Jacinto Battleground
If it was good enough for the Texian Army, it's good enough for me. :)
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