The estimated in-service date for the $140 million Cornerstone Pipeline is late 2016.
The 50-mile pipeline would move condensate, natural gas, and butane from a processing plant in Cadiz, Harrison County, operated by MarkWest Energy Partners LP to Marathon Petroleum Co. LP’s refinery in Canton and to ORPL’s East Sparta tank farm.
MPL, a subsidiary of a master limited partnership run by Marathon, operates 6,000 miles of pipeline across 14 states.
Marathon Chief Executive Officer Gary Heminger told analysts in a February conference call that the Utica pipeline business remains attractive despite slumping oil prices and dropping rig counts nationwide.
"The Utica’s rig counts are fairly unchanged at this point in time," Heminger said. "And being one of the larger purchasers of the output of Utica, we continue to see growth in that volume."
Marathon currently uses trucks to transport oil and condensate to the Canton refinery. The Canton refinery and a Marathon refinery in Catlettsburg, Ky., will install condensate splitters to process production from the Marcellus.
Cornerstone is being designed as a 16-in. pipeline system routed to provide the opportunity for connections across the Utica shale. The pipeline will be a batched system with the ability to transport condensate, natural gasoline, diluent, and butane.
MPL is also advancing various Utica build-out projects to provide service to additional markets beyond Canton. The build-out projects include construction and utilization of existing pipelines. These projects connect Midwestern refineries to the Utica shale and ultimately provide the ability to reach the Chicago-area refineries and pipelines that supply diluent to Western Canada.
The estimated in-service date for all of the Utica build-out projects is mid-2017.
