Energy Transfer LP (Dallas) announced Dec. 29 that its Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline was online and available for both interstate and intrastate service. The 350-mile pipeline transports U.S.-produced ethane, propane, and butane east from processing plants in Ohio, across West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to Energy Transfer’s Marcus Hook Industrial Complex in Delaware County, Pa., where the NGLs are stored for distribution to local, domestic, and waterborne markets.

Mariner East 2 is part of Energy Transfer’s Mariner East system of pipelines designed to provide NGL takeaway capacity for the Marcellus and Utica shale production areas in eastern Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania. The Mariner East 2X pipeline, which parallels Mariner East 2, is expected to be in service late this year. The Mariner East system will provide both operational flexibility and enhanced security of NGL supply from producing areas in the region and beyond.

According to a 2015 economic impact study by EConsult Solutions, the total impact of the construction of the Mariner East pipelines is estimated to be more than $9.1 billion in Pennsylvania alone. When complete, the projects will have provided more than 9500 construction jobs a year for six years, with associated earnings totaling more than $2.7 billion.

(SOURCE: The Weekly Propane Newsletter, January 14, 2019)