Planned Sunoco Pipeline Will Quadruple Gas Liquids Traffic

English: Cropped portion of image from USGS report showing extent of Marcellus Formation shale (in gray shading). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. announced Thursday that it will build an enormous, $2.5 billion pipeline project that will quadruple the volume of Marcellus Shale natural gas liquids moving through the Philadelphia area.

The Mariner East 2 project, the second phase of a plan to move materials like propane, butane, and ethane from Appalachian shale-gas fields, would dramatically expand industrial activity at the company’s Marcus Hook Industrial Complex.

Sunoco Logistics said it would build a pipeline at least 16 inches in diameter to follow the route of its first Mariner East project, an 83-year-old fuel pipeline crossing Pennsylvania that the company is repurposing to carry liquids to Marcus Hook.

Industry and political leaders have rallied behind the Mariner East projects as a way to closely tie Philadelphia to the Marcellus Shale region, which now accounts for nearly a quarter of the nation’s natural gas production.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20141107_Sunoco_Logistics_annouces__2_5B_pipeline_project.html#u0qiaZftbuYCVsZB.99

Marcus Hook Refinery Gets Makeover As Natural Gas Hub

English: Sunoco Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is out with the old and in with the new at the 500-acre waterfront facility formerly known as the Sunoco Marcus Hook Refinery, now the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex.

Workers last week ripped down aging petroleum-processing equipment, part of a labyrinth of machinery that has produced gasoline, diesel, and kerosene for more than a century. Other crews built cryogenic storage tanks more than 130 feet tall with three-foot-thick walls that will hold the future: new fuels from the prolific Marcellus Shale region.

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., a pipeline company that bought the property for $60 million last year from its sister company, Sunoco Inc., is converting the site into a major center for processing and shipping natural gas liquids.

“We very much hope this is only the first step in this property,” said Jonathan Hunt, director of the complex. “We’re working on a lot of possible businesses. There’s a lot of opportunities here.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140420_Marcus_Hook_refinery_gets_makeover_as_natural_gas_hub.html#uviXa1C6vRQ7JrMk.99