Sunoco Planning Additional Upgrades at Marcus Hook for $200 Million

Company pumps up $200M investment into former Sun refinery

From an Article by Kevin Tustin, Delaware County Times, April 30, 2019

MARCUS HOOK — A diminished future for the Marcus Hook refinery at the start of the decade has turned around to a booming place by decade’s end.

Officials of Energy Transfer, owners of the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex that includes the refinery announced a two-year, $200 million project labor agreement Monday afternoon. The agreement will expand its facilities at the location with the help of 1,200 jobs through the Philadelphia Building Trades to include craftsmen of electricians, ironworkers, sheet metal workers and more.

The project will be split into two phases, the first starting this summer for $58 million. This will include construction of a 56,000 square foot warehouse, propane and butane chillers, the rerouting of the facility’s electrical supply and improvements to increase the operational efficiency of one of the storage caverns.

Following that, the addition of processing and storage capabilities for ethane, increase pumping capabilities on existing pipelines coming in and out of Marcus Hook, and more fractionation capabilities.

All of these projects will be brought online as volume increases on the Mariner East pipeline systems.

“This is a great moment for us as we’re standing here posed to take the next step into our future,” said Energy Transfer Executive Vice President of Engineering and Construction Kevin Smith. “The combination of increased NGLs (natural gas liquids) coming through Marcus Hook through our Mariner East pipelines and the labor force now in place because of the PLA allows us to move forward to create projects that create a dominant NGL hub.”

Smith added that the relationships with the trades organizations allow for the best skilled persons to come in and work, and “Energy Transfer works with the best.”

When asked about the growing Marcellus Shale industry, Energy Transfer Senior Vice President of Business Development Hank Alexander said Marcus Hook always was a good sight for the company, they just had to “get the molecules” (natural gas) down there.

“This now aligns everyone to the next phase. I can tell you that our producer customers and the production-driven economics that really push for Marcus Hook… made so much more sense than any other option out of this basin,” said Alexander.

A number of local labor leaders spoke to the safety they provide on their construction projects, include those in Marcus Hook.

“We’re proud, we’re extremely proud for the work that we do, especially down at this facility,” said Jim Snell, business manager for Steamfitters Local 420. “I truly want to commend Energy Transfer for its commitment local workers and the regional economy. This is an important partnership that demonstrates the value of skilled labor and proves that important relationships like this are good for the business.”

Bill Adams, assistant business manager of IBEW Local 654, said this will bring the employment of his unionized force from 40 to 300 at the site. “Find me another project where employment increases seven times,” said Adams. “More importantly, the Philadelphia Building Trades has worked over 7 million man hours with perfect installations and zero accidents at this site. Large-scale infrastructure projects like this allows the IBEW, and other building trades workers, to put their skill set to use after spending thousands of hours in training.”

The investment is a counterpoint to when Sunoco Logisitics announced in late 2011 its intentions to close down the facility, cutting off hundreds of jobs in a very small community that is more industrial than residential. It has a great impact to the local tax base, said Marcus Hook Borough Manager Andrew Weldon, and on top of that is the generations, families of people who have worked at the facility over the decades.

“To be a part of this transformation of this facility into a thriving natural gas liquids hub and economic driver for this region has personally been an honor for me,” said Alexander.

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See also: Sunoco buys two homes at Chester County site of Mariner East 2-related sinkhole | StateImpact Pennsylvania, Jon Hurdle, April 30, 2019