Sunoco Logistics Partners LP said its Mariner East 1 pipeline between the Pittsburgh area and Mark Hook, Pa., on the Delaware River has begun carrying ethane along with propane and has delivered its first ethane for export.
The Ineos Intrepid LNG multi-gas carrier is now bound for Rafnes in Norway with 27,500 cu m of ethane.
The 70,000-b/d pipeline began carrying propane in December.
“The Marcus Hook Industrial Complex is now positioned as the East Coast hub for processing and storing propane, ethane, and other natural gas liquids from the shale basins for distribution to local, domestic, and international markets,” Sunoco Logistics said in a statement.
A second construction phase, Mariner East 2, will expand the system to origination points in Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania; add take-off points for propane in central and eastern Pennsylvania; and expand capacity by about 275,000 b/d (OGJ Online, Feb. 18, 2016).
Capacity of Mariner 2, to be complete in first-half 2017, can be expanded to 450,000 b/d.