Storage Project for Natural Gas Liquids Proposed for Ohio River Valley

Mountaineer NGL to Invest $150M in Storage Project, Monroe County, OH

From an Article of The Business Journal (Youngstown, OH), October 27, 2017

CLARINGTON, Ohio – Mountaineer NGL Storage is planning a $150 million investment over the next five years in its natural gas liquids storage project in Monroe County, creating at least 200 construction jobs.

The company, which was the first to invest in regional NGL storage, said in announcing the investment that it supports the Tri-State Shale Coalition’s efforts to bring multi-billion storage and infrastructure projects to the Appalachian region.

Mountaineer NGL Storage has invested approximately $20 million to date into the project to secure up to 3.25 million barrels of storage capacity that’s scalable to more than 10 million barrels. When completed, the total investment could reach $500 million.

“We believe the project highlights how the private sector can take steps to address critical storage solutions for the burgeoning petrochemical industry,” said David Hooker, managing director of Mountaineer NGL Storage. “We think that our investment will encourage significant additional NGL infrastructure support in the region as well.”

Last year the company announced a successful open season that resulted in requests for more than three times the amount of initial planned capacity. Recent reports by the American Chemistry Council and West Virginia University confirmed the need for NGL storage and the importance of keeping the natural resources local, Mountaineer noted.

The project will help ensure that NGLs remain in the region to be used locally by downstream energy consumers, such as petrochemical manufacturing, said U.S. Bill Johnson, R-6 Ohio, in a statement released by the company.

“With one ethane cracker construction underway in our region and the potential for another just around the corner, new requirements are emerging for ethane storage and pipeline infrastructure projects,” Johnson said. “These are positive, opportunity creating developments for the hardworking people of eastern and southeastern Ohio.”