PA & WV Ethane going West & East
Nova Chemicals updating neighbours on pipeline plan at Sarnia (Canada)
From a Press Release of Nova Chemicals, Sarnia Observer (Canada), January 15, 2015
Nova Chemicals is considering a four-kilometre pipeline project to connect its Corunna petrochemical facility to a secondary feedstock source. The pipeline is one of the proposed projects the company plans to provide updates on during a public information meeting set for January 22, 2015
The proposed Kimball pipeline project would replace a dormant four-inch pipeline with a four-km, 12-inch pipeline in an existing right of way, connecting the Corunna site to Plains Midstream’s Windsor-Sarnia pipeline near Kimball Sideroad and a secondary source of natural gas liquids feedstock originating in the Utica shale area of the U.S.
“This is all part of our continued revitalization of our eastern assets,” said Rob Thompson, Nova’s regional operations leader. Nova recently completed work to connect its Corunna facility by pipeline to natural gas liquids from the Eastern U.S. Marcellus shale region.
Also, Nova just recently converted its Corunna facility to use up to 100% feedstock from natural gas liquids. “Currently, we’re operating this facility 100% natural gas liquid feed” from the Marcellus shale pipeline connection, Thompson said.
The proposed pipeline project “will get us a secondary feed source,” he added. “It’s about reliability of the plant,” Thompson said. “It will give us opportunities, in case there’s issues with supply or pipeline reliability.”
Previously, the Corunna facility’s feedstock had been a combination of natural gas liquids and oil. “By switching to this newer feedstock, we’ve taken out the volatility of being tied to crude oil,” allowing the operation “to be much more stable than we would have been,” Thompson said.
He said construction on the Kimball pipeline replacement project could begin in the summer of 2016. As well as replacing an existing smaller pipeline, the project would remove a dormant eight-inch pipeline from the right of way.
Last fall, Nova Chemicals said a new long-term agreement with the Kinder Morgan Energy Partners pipeline company would provide access to ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from the Utica shale region, through a 380-kilometre, 75,000 barrel-a-day pipeline to be built from Harrison County, Ohio to Michigan, where it can connect to Ontario.
The Jan. 22 meeting will also provide information on Nova’s other proposed capital projects. “Over the last 10 years, Nova’s invested basically $1 billion in capital in Sarnia-Lambton,” Thompson said. “We’re going to give the community an update on the status of each one of those projects.”
In late 2013, Nova Chemicals said it was considering spending another $300 million expanding ethylene manufacturing capacity by 20% at Corunna, as well as upgrading polyethylene capacity at its Moore site. Engineering work for those projects is underway but construction is still waiting for corporate approval, Thompson said. Nova has already applied for provincial environmental approval for the Corunna expansion, Thompson said.
The company is also still considering building a new polyethylene plant in Ontario, or on the U.S. Gulf coast. “We continue to study that facility to determine the best location, and potential timing for construction,” Thompson said. “It’s more positive today than it was a year ago,” he added.
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Qatar Petroleum and Shell not to pursue Al Karaana petrochemicals project
From an Article in OilVoice, January 14, 2015
Qatar Petroleum and Shell have decided not to proceed with the proposed Al Karaana petrochemicals project, and to stop further work on the project. The decision came after a careful and thorough evaluation of commercial quotations from EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) bidders, which showed high capital costs rendering it commercially unfeasible, particularly in the current economic climate prevailing in the energy industry.
The Al Karaana project was initiated with a Heads of Agreement (HOA) between QP and Shell in December 2011, and envisioned the construction of a new world-scale petrochemicals complex in the Ras Laffan Industrial City north of Qatar. The complex was to be operated as a stand-alone QP-Shell joint venture (80% QP, 20% Shell).
QP and Shell’s existing partnerships include Pearl GTL — the world’s largest integrated gas-to-liquids plant located at Ras Laffan, which has boosted Qatar’s position as the world’s GTL capital. The partnerships also include Qatargas 4 — an integrated Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) asset — in addition to joint downstream and upstream investments in Singapore and Brazil.
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Range Resources began moving propane into the Mariner East Pipeline in December, which was earlier than originally expected. The pipeline, which carries the fuel to refineries at Marcus Hook in Delaware County, PA, will not be fully operational until mid-2015 when it can also transport ethane.
The full capacity of Mariner East will be 70,000 barrels of gas-liquids per day. Mariner East II is under development to offer an additional capacity of 275,000 barrels of gas-liquids per day by the end of 2016.
Range also announced a multiyear contract to sell 5,000 barrels per day of ethane, half of its existing committed transportation volume, through the ATEX pipeline. (This pipeline is designed to transport 240,000 barrels per day of ethane to the Gulf-coast of Texas from the Marcellus and Utica regions.)