Mariner East pipeline heightens NGL activity at Marcus Hook

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP’s Mariner East 1, the first pipeline in the larger Mariner East system, now transports both ethane and propane to the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex. The company says the complex is approaching full operations as it completes loading of the first ethane ship.

Mariner East 1 is the first phase of the multifaceted Mariner East project. With Mariner East 1 up and running, the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex is positioned as an East Coast hub for processing and storing propane, ethane and other natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the shale basins for distribution to local, domestic and international markets. The 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) of ethane and propane capacity at Mariner East 1 is available for both intrastate and interstate service.

Mariner East 1, originating near Pittsburgh, began shipping propane in December 2014, serving local and regional propane shippers, as well as the international market. Ethane shipments began in February 2016, and the first tanker carrying ethane to Europe departed from Marcus Hook on March 9.

Mariner East 2, an expansion of the Mariner East system with origin points in Ohio, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, will add off-take points for propane shippers in central and eastern Pennsylvania. The expansion project is expected to go online in the first half of 2017, adding 275,000 bpd of NGL capacity, primarily propane and butane, from the Marcellus and Utica shales. Mariner East 2 will provide both interstate and intrastate service within Pennsylvania, and it will have the potential to expand to 450,000 bpd.