Pipeline set to link pair of projects – Marcellus Shale

Mike Stice, President of Chesapeake Midstream Development, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy, spoke during the Marcellus Midstream Conference & Exhibition in Pittsburgh this week. He said the potential for collecting methane, ethane, butane, propane, pentane and even oil make the Utica and Marcellus shale formations very attractive to companies like his. “The diversity of the [...]

Pittsburgh-area site is chosen for major refinery

Shell Oil Co. has chosen a site near Pittsburgh for a major, multi-billion-dollar petrochemical refinery that could create thousands of construction jobs and provide a huge economic boost to the region. Dan Carlson, Shell’s General Manager of New Business Development, said Thursday that the company signed a land option agreement with Horsehead Corp. to evaluate [...]

$520 million Marcellus Lateral pipeline project in doubt

A $520 million pipeline project thought to have the potential to support 2,500 Ohio construction jobs might be dead. The Ohio Power Siting Board, the body that regulates major utility projects in Ohio, rejected the application for the Marcellus Lateral Pipeline more than a year ago. Kinder Morgan, a pipeline developer, owner and operator out [...]

Pennsylvania Public Utility posts new rules for replacing aging pipelines

Noting the Feb. 9 natural gas explosion that killed five Allentown residents, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission last week proposed requiring gas utilities to file plans outlining how much aging underground pipelines leak and when the utilities intend to replace them. The PUC unanimously agreed without discussion to seek comments on the proposal, which was [...]

Stretching, Staffing and Pipeline Integrity Management

According to MATCOR’s Nick Judd, Houston-based corrosion engineer, “The company used to pick up less than 200 miles a year in pipeline integrity management (PIM) projects. Today, we are already doing more PIM; we’re growing to serve much more, and it’s no stretch to say we’ve got the capabilities.” In deploying a broader range of [...]

Manhattan Residents expressed fears for proposed 30-inch high pressure Natural Gas Pipeline

West Side residents expressed their fears at a Tuesday Community Board 2 forum about a proposed 30-inch, high-pressure, natural gas pipeline crossing the Hudson River from New Jersey to Gansevoort St. The Spectra Energy pipeline between Linden, N.J., and the West Village has the support of the Bloomberg administration, which has mandated that thousands of [...]

Pennsylvania blowout fuels fracking fears

PITTSBURGH, April 22 (UPI) — A blowout at a Pennsylvania natural gas well has fueled increased concerns about the already controversial practice of hydraulic fracking. The well, owned by Chesapeake Energy Corp., experienced an equipment failure Tuesday, sending chemical-laced water over the drilling site in Bradford County, Pa. and into nearby waterways, including Towanda Creek, [...]