Sunoco Logistics to move ahead with Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, Philadelphia, reported receiving sufficient binding commitments from shippers to move ahead with its Sunoco Pipeline LP subsidiary’s $2.5-billion investment in the Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline project.

Mariner East 2 is the second phase of the company’s broader plan to transport 275,000 b/d of various NGLs (propane, butane, and ethane) from processing and fractionation complexes in the Marcellus and Utica shale areas in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and eastern Ohio to Sunoco Logistics’ 800-acre Marcus Hook Industrial Complex (MHIC) in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Combined with the 70,000-b/d Mariner East 1 project, Sunoco expects total NGL takeaway capacity from the shale regions via Mariner East to reach 345,000 b/d. Mariner East 1 is expected to begin propane service by yearend (OGJ, June 2, 2014, p. 82).

Mariner East 2, which will involve the construction of facilities at MHIC to store, chill, process, and distribute NGLs to local and international markets, is expected to be operational by yearend 2016, subject to regulatory and permit approvals, Sunoco Logistics said.

Sunoco Logistics also said it is actively developing an NGL processing complex, including a propane dehydrogenation plant, at Marcus Hook for the manufacture of propylene, which “furthers the revitalization plan for [MHIC].”

Mariner East would use primarily existing Sunoco pipeline. The project would also include new storage at Philadelphia and near Nederland, Tex., for waterborne transfers from the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf Coast (OGJ Online, Aug. 10, 2012).