Franks Run was heavily polluted during pipeline construction

From an Article by Kate Mishkin, Charleston Gazette, April 19, 2019

A gas company has agreed to a $124,030 deal with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for its environmental violations in Doddridge and Wetzel counties.

MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources and the DEP entered into the consent order March 28. The order is subject to a comment period that ends May 16.

The 134-page consent order outlines environmental issues while the company was working to install a pipeline in Doddridge and Wetzel counties between August 2018 and February 2019.

Most recently, DEP inspectors visited the site on Feb. 27 and found the company had failed to keep sediment-laden water from leaving the site, and had “caused conditions not allowable in waters of the State by creating distinctly visible settleable solids” in one of the bodies of water. Inspectors subsequently wrote a Notice of Violation, which does not include a financial penalty.

The consent order includes a breakdown of fines: a $99,200 base penalty; $9,920 for willfulness or negligence; $24,800 for compliance or noncompliance history; and $30 for public notice costs. The company got a $9,920 discount for cooperating with the state.

That doesn’t account for staff investigative costs and the cost of dealing with repeat violators, said Angie Rosser, executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition.

“This penalty, as with others, does not consider the economic benefit MarkWest Liberty gained from cutting corners. The order documents chronic lack of maintenance that’s required to control polluted run-off, yet there’s no acknowledgement that MarkWest saved money by choosing not to hire the personnel needed to avoid these damages,” Rosser said. “If paying the penalty is less than it costs to do the job right, then it’s not an effective deterrent.”

The consent order includes about 115 pages of photos of the project, including photos of muddy water and overflowing water.

“After seeing the pages and pages of photos, I’m grateful for the DEP doing their job, but mostly I just get upset. I’m upset with this company. I’m upset with the industry to not hold itself to a higher standard. Companies showing such blatant disregard for laws that protect our citizens’ water simply shouldn’t be allowed the privilege of doing business here,” Rosser said.

The company did not respond to a request for comment. The DEP would not answer additional questions about the consent order.

“WVDEP has no further comments beyond those provided on the signed consent order,” Casey Korbini, deputy director for remediation programs, said in an email.

This facility is on US Route 50 east of West Union

From an Article by Charles Young, WV News, 4/13/2019

WEST UNION — The operators of the MarkWest Sherwood Complex in Doddridge County plan to further expand the facility’s capacity this year.

Randall Eastham, facility manager of the Sherwood Complex, said it has 2.2 billion standard cubic feet per day of processing capacity, making it the largest gas-processing facility in the nation.

“We plan to expand it by another 400 million cubic feet per day this year,” he said. “Gas processing removes the heavier and more valuable hydrocarbon components of natural gas, which are extracted as a mixed natural gas liquids (NGL) stream, which includes ethane, propane, butane and natural gasoline.”

Liquid natural gas has multiple commercial applications, Eastham said. “They are used as inputs for petrochemical plants, burned for space heating and cooking and blended into vehicle fuel,” he said. “In addition, Sherwood has a 60,000-barrel per day de-ethanization plant, which removes ethane from the other NGLs. We plan to expand this de-ethanization capacity by 20,000 barrels per day this year.”

MarkWest is a wholly owned subsidiary of MPLX. The Sherwood Complex first began operations in October 2012, according to Jamal Kheiry, communications manager for Marathon Petroleum Corp.

Sam Schupbach, vice president of Operations Processing for MPLX’s Gathering and Processing segment, said the company employs more than 200 workers in West Virginia. The company has spent more than $10 billion building infrastructure in the region over the last decade, Schupbach said.

In 2017, MPLX entered into a partnership with Antero Resources, which allowed it to expand the Sherwood Complex’s capacity, Schupbach said.

“We formed a joint venture with Antero Midstream Partners LP to support Antero Resources’ development in the Marcellus Shale,” he said. “At the time we formed the joint venture, Sherwood’s six cryogenic processing facilities had a total capacity of 1.2 billion cubic feet per day.

“At the time the joint venture was formed, ongoing development of gas processing infrastructure included three new joint-venture processing facilities totaling an additional 600 million cubic feet per day of processing capacity for Antero Resources. Since then, another 400 million cubic feet per day of capacity has been added.”

MPLX has plans in the works for another natural gas facility in Doddridge County to be called the Smithburg Complex, which will have the capacity to process 1.2 billion cubic feet per day, Schupbach said. An expected in-service date has not yet determined for the future facility, Schupbach said.

Doddridge County Commission President Greg Robinson said the Sherwood Complex is an important contributor to the local economy. “The plant itself provides real estate taxes, but there’s also numerous pipelines that feed that plant,” he said. “And those are all part of the tax. When a facility provides employment in addition to the tax base, that helps the community and helps the people — it’s how some residents earn their income.”

The facility and its employees are also highly involved in local affairs in the county, Robinson said. “They’ve contributed to many different good causes. If there’s some big event going on, most of the time we can count on them to be a willing partner,” Robinson said. “We appreciate the willingness of the plant to help — to be good neighbors, and for their willingness to contribute.”

The county’s tax base has grown substantially in recent years, largely due to increased oil and gas activity, Robinson said. “In addition, the oil and gas provides through the royalties. Many residents get a significant amount of income every year,” he said.

NGL are separated from “wet” natural gas

MarkWest isolates Ethane, Propane and Butanes from “Wet” Natural Gas

From an Article by Pittsburgh Post Gazette, December 14, 2018

Four people remain hospitalized, one in critical condition, after an explosion at a Washington County gas processing plant Thursday night.

The explosion involved two storage tanks at the MarkWest Energy facility at 800 Western Ave., in Houston, Pa. It was reported at 6:03 p.m. and the fire brought under control within an hour, according to county emergency officials.

All of the injured workers suffered burns. Two were flown to UPMC Mercy, including one person who was in critical condition Friday morning, officials said. The other two injured were flown to West Penn Hospital.

Nine fire departments and three EMS crews responded, as did the county’s hazmat unit. No homes were evacuated.

A MarkWest official said in a statement that the explosion occurred “near two temporary tanks that were on-site for routine maintenance, resulting in a fire.”

“Although the processing plant was not involved in the incident, it was shut down as a precaution and at this time there are no off-site impacts,” the statement read. “Agency notifications have been made and an investigation into the cause of this event is underway. Our prayers are with our injured colleagues and their families.”

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From WTAE Action 4 News:

The Marathon Petroleum Corporation issued the following statement:

“At approximately 6 p.m. local time, the MarkWest processing plant in Houston, Pennsylvania, experienced an incident near two temporary tanks that were on-site for routine maintenance, resulting in a fire. There were injuries and four individuals have been transported to area hospitals. Local fire departments responded and the fire has been extinguished. The processing plant has been shut down as a precaution and at this time there were no off-site impacts. Agency notifications have been made and an investigation into the cause of this event is underway. Our prayers are with our injured colleagues and their families.”

A spokesperson for the PA Department of Environmental Protection told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 a team did respond to the site. Crews investigated and determined chemicals from the foam used by firefighters to put out the fire did not leak into any nearby water supply.

The PA-DEP said the company has until January 15 to submit a report detailing the incident.

MarkWest Sherwood Gas Processing Complex on US Route 50 in Doddridge County, WV

This Article is from the Kallanish Energy News, April 5, 2018

NORTH CANTON, Ohio — After record-setting natural gas and natural gas liquids processing in 2017, MarkWest Energy Partners continues to invest heavily in the Appalachian Basin.

The midstreamer added two natural-gas processing plants in West Virginia in 2017 and plans to add six more in 2018: four in West Virginia and two in Pennsylvania, said company spokeswoman Tina Rush, at the Utica Midstream conference at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio.

Kallanish Energy attended the one-day program, presented by ShaleDirectories.com and the Greater Canton Chamber of Commerce. MarkWest built three fractionation facilities in 2017: one each in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It plans to add three more in 2018: one in each of the three states, Rush told the 130 people attending the conference.

“The growth is still there,” Rush said on the increasing demand for processing and fractionation in the Appalachian Basin. Estimates are that 45% of natural gas growth in the U.S. will occur in the Northeast, she said.

The new plants in the Utica and Marcellus shales are part of MarkWest’s 2018 projects with a combined $2 billion price tag, she said.

The company set a record in the fourth quarter of 2107, gathering 2.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas and processing 5.2 Bcf/d, according to Rush.

Gathering volume was up 19% and processing volume was up 14% over 2016, she said. The company also processed 389,000 barrels per day (BPD) of liquids in Q4, also a company record. That was an increase of 19% over Q4 2016.

The Marcellus and Utica shales account for 65% of the company’s gathering, 70% of its processing and 90% of its fractionation, Rush reported.

The company’s Sherwood plant in West Virginia is now the fourth-largest such facility in the U.S. By late 2018, that plant is expected to be the No. 1 processing plant in the country, and is projected to be the No. 1 plant in North America by the end of 2019, Rush said.

Appalachian Basin projects, plus additions in the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, will boost MarkWest’s natural gas processing capacity by 1.5 Bcf/d, and fractionation capacity by 100,000 BPD of liquids, she said.

Marathon Petroleum, the parent company of MarkWest, is looking at moving Appalachian Basin butane by pipeline to as many as 10 Midwest refineries, said Jason Stechschulte, commercial development manager for Marathon Pipe Line.

The company now moves condensate and natural gasoline via pipelines from the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio to refineries in western Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. Butane would be shipped in batches in that pipeline system and additional connections could be made to other pipelines moving butane, Stechschulte said.

Under pressure, butane would flow as a liquid in the pipelines, he said. The butane would be used to blend with gasoline to make winter fuels at company refineries. Such shipments are a year or two away and would require the addition of storage facilities at the refineries, he said.

Marathon is also looking at extending its liquid pipelines into southeastern Ohio to reach other processing/fractionation facilities, Stechschulte said.

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### MarkWest Sherwood Plant helps growth and development in Doddridge County ###

From an Article by Kirsten Reneau, Clarksburg Exponent-Telegraph (WV News), March 29, 2018

WEST UNION — The MarkWest Sherwood Complex continues to help the residents of Doddridge County in a variety of ways through the site’s work in oil and gas.

MarkWest is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MPLX. The Sherwood Complex first began operations in October 2012, said Jamal Kheiry, communications manager for Marathon Petroleum Corp. “MPLX’s natural gas processing complexes remove the heavier and more valuable hydrocarbon components from natural gas,” Kheiry said.

Photos: The Sherwood Processing Facility — Three more processing plants were added to the MarkWest Sherwood facility this past year.

In 2017, through a joint venture between MarkWest and Antero Midstream, the company was able to add three more gas processing plants, with the capacity of processing 200 million cubic feet of gas every day. Last year, the company invested $200 million in construction.

“The Sherwood Complex now processes natural gas in nine processing plants, with a total capacity of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day,” Kheiry said. “Sherwood also includes a 40,000 barrel per day de-ethanization unit, which separates ethane from natural gas.”

There is still more construction underway at Sherwood, with plans to build two more gas processing plants with the capacity of 200 million cubic feet per day through a joint venture with Antero Midstream. “These new units support development of Antero Resources’ extensive Marcellus Shale acreage in West Virginia,” Kheiry said.

“The new gas processing plants are expected to be complete this year. There is also the potential to develop up to six additional processing facilities at Sherwood and at a future expansion site. Separate from the joint venture with Antero, MarkWest is also building a 20,000-barrel per-day ethane fractionation plant.”

He explained that natural gas production begins with the drilling of wells into gas-bearing rock formations, and a network of pipelines (also known as gathering systems) directly connects to wellheads in the production area.

“These gathering systems transport raw, or untreated, natural gas to a central location for treating and processing. A large gathering system may involve thousands of miles of gathering lines connected to thousands of wells,” Kheiry said.

Next comes compression, a mechanical process in which a volume of natural gas is compressed to a higher pressure. This allows the natural gas to be gathered more efficiently, as well as delivered to a higher pressure system.

“Field compression is typically used to allow a gathering system to operate at a lower pressure or provide sufficient discharge pressure to deliver natural gas into a higher pressure system,” Kheiry said. “Since wells produce at progressively lower field pressures as they deplete, field compression is needed to maintain throughput across the gathering system.” After natural gas has been processed at the Sherwood complex, the heavier and more valuable hydrocarbon components are separated out.

“Processing aids in allowing the residue gas remaining after extraction of NGLs to meet the quality specifications for long-haul pipeline transportation and commercial use,” Kheiry said. These “have been extracted as a mixed natural gas liquid (NGL) stream, (and) can be further separated into their component parts through the process of fractionation.”

Fractionation is defined as the separation of the mixture of extracted NGLs into individual components for end-use sale. This is done by controlling the temperature and pressure of the stream of mixed NGLs to use the different boiling points and vapor pressures of separate products.

One of the largest facilities in the Northeast, the MarkWest Sherwood Plant makes a significant financial impact in Doddridge County. “We are proud to be part of Doddridge County and to contribute to its economic foundation,” Kheiry said.

County Commission President Greg Robinson, said the tax impact has made a major difference. “The plant itself provides real estate taxes, but there’s also numerous pipelines that feed that plant,” Robinson said. “And those are all part of the tax.”

This, along with their employment of those in the county and the commuters who may stop to use Doddridge County gas stations, restaurants, and other amenities, all contribute back to the economy.

“It provides in many different ways,” Robinson said. “When a facility provides employment in addition to the tax base, that helps the community and helps the people — it’s how some residents earn their income.”

He added that the Sherwood Plant has been “extremely good” for the county because of their “willingness to be good neighbors.” “They’ve contributed to many different good causes. If there’s some big event going on, most of the time we can count on them to be a willing partner,” Robinson said. “We appreciate the willingness of the plant to help — to be good neighbors, and for their willingness to contribute.”

The county’s tax base has grown substantially in recent years, primarily because of the oil and gas industry, he said. “In addition, the oil and gas provides through the royalties. Many residents get a significant amount of income every year.”

Because of this increased tax revenue, they’ve been able to tackle a variety of projects that may have otherwise taken much longer. This includes construction of a new county library; taking care of a variety of infrastructure needs, such as streets and sewage projects; increasing their rainy day fund; contributing to the medical facility; and beginning the process of extending water to various parts of the county where it wasn’t previously available.

This past year, they were able to take on an exterior renovation project for the Doddridge County Courthouse, which cost around $2.5 million. “We’ve set aside money to start a new annex for the courthouse,” Robinson said. “Before we can do anything to the inside, we’ve got to move some people out, and we have no place to put them. It’s a logistical thing.”

The Board of Education has also benefited from Sherwood’s presence, Superintendent Adam Cheeseman said. “The revenue generated for our schools has been a big asset,” he said. With these funds, they’ve been able to offer development opportunities for teachers, supplement instructional activities and programs, and focus on larger one-time expenditures.

“The latest was the school entrance at the elementary school and the auxiliary gym for the high school, and we’re in the middle of a large project — a new football filed. baseball field, and athletic complex, with a new BOE complex,” Cheeseman said. “Sherwood, and oil and gas overall, have put us in a very good place.”

While these funds are exciting, “more exciting is that we’re hoping to further our partnership with MarkWest,” Cheeseman said. Already partners in education, he plans to connect the facilities with their school system, with hopes of providing opportunities ranging from internships to observation hours to trainings for students at Doddridge County High School.

### MarkWest lets contract for Hopedale Ohio fractionator for propane plus three higher hydrocarbons ###

Article by Robert Brelsford, Downstream Technology Editor, Oil & Gas Journal, 02/12/18

MarkWest Energy Partners LP—a wholly owned subsidiary of MPLX LP—has let a contract to a division of Honeywell UOP LLC to deliver a natural gas liquids fractionation unit at its existing Hopedale complex in Jewett, Harrison County, Ohio.

As part of the contract, UOP will provide one of its proprietary, pre-engineered UOP Russell fractionation plants capable of producing 60,000 b/d of NGLs, the service provider said.

The fractionation system will recover propane, isobutane, normal butane, and natural gasoline from mixed Marcellus and Utica shale NGL production to be used as feedstock in petrochemical manufacturing.

While neither UOP nor MarkWest immediately disclosed a value or duration of the contract, MPLX told investors on February 1st that it planned to complete and commission the proposed 60,000-b/d Hopedale IV propane-plus fractionation plant during this year’s fourth quarter.

MarkWest most recently commissioned its 60,000-b/d Hopedale III propane-plus fractionation plant in first-quarter 2017, according to a January 8th presentation from MPLX.

Including Hopedale III, the Hopedale complex currently houses three units providing 180,000 b/d of propane-plus fractionation capacity (OGJ Online, Feb. 6, 2017).

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FRACTIONATOR Stuck in Intersection — Superload breaks down, will sit idle for a week in Steubenville OH

From an Article by David Singer, WTOV (Steubenville), Sunday, July 29th 2018 —

The over-sized “superload” scheduled to make its way through West Virginia over to Harrison County, Ohio has halted in Steubenville.

The super load truck initially got stuck early Sunday morning in Weirton on US Route 22 before breaking down on the University Boulevard ramp just across the river. And that is where the super load will stay until next Sunday.

Crews had initially hoped to make an all-day trip to get the load to Hopedale, but the breakdown means the haul will have to stay in place until it can make another attempt next weekend. Until then, the OH Route 7 and US Route 22 exit ramp for University Boulevard will remain closed.

This is the detour until further notice:

Drivers exiting onto University Boulevard from southbound OH Route 7 must take 7 until the light, then turn right. Those travelling east on US Route 22 must take the Route 7 north exit and proceed until the second light. Drivers will then turn onto University Boulevard.

MarkWest Fractionator as Distillation Column for Hopedale OH

A spill of drilling mud 2 months ago in Pennsylvania is suspected as the culprit in the recent incident of contamination in Buffalo Creek.  MarkWest Liberty officials said the natural gas processing company “might be” responsible for the gray-white foam which was distributed over a 25 mile long stretch of the stream and was also spotted in the Ohio river.  A fisherman reported seeing a foamy substance floating in Buffalo Creek near Taylorstown, WV on Monday evening.   Buffalo Creek  flows east to west from Pennsylvania, through Brooke Co. WV, and empties into the Ohio River.  The substance had dissipated in the stream by Tuesday, said K. Robert Fowler, director of the West Virginia Emergency Management Agency.

MarkWest Energy Partners had an incident called a “frack out” that the company reported to the Pennsylvania DEP on March 9, the spokesman said on Wednesday. Workers on March 2 had used the clay bentonite and the unidentified foaming agent to help bore a hole for a pipeline under the creek near Route 231 in Blaine, Washington County, Pa. The two substances seeped up into the streambed and likely were stirred up later during heavy rains according to Kevin Sunday, PADEP spokesperson.

The Observer-Reporter stated on May 10 that presence of the widespread gray-white foam in the creek prompted the temporary shutdown of several West Virginia public water operators.

Tom Aluise, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia DEP, today said complete lab results of sampling performed by the WVDEP were not yet available.  Earlier WVDEP spokesperson Kathy Cosco reported that a test at the Wheeling wastewater treatment plant indicated the substance was bentonite, which is used as a sealant in drilling mud.  K. Robert Fowler, director of the Emergency Management Agency for Brooke County, W.Va., said initial tests revealed whatever the substance was, it was not toxic.  The chemicals are not toxic, said Kevin Sunday (PADEP), though he declined to name the chemical foaming agent.  As of Thursday, PADEP officials were still waiting for MarkWest to send safety data sheets for the chemicals used at the site.

Observer-Reporter , May 12

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review May 12