The land-sea route through Marcus Hook, which Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. plans in partnership with MarkWest Energy Partners L.P., received a boost last week when Congress signaled it would allow three ethane tankers to sail under the U.S. flag. Only U.S.-flagged vessels can carry cargo between American ports.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) told a Senate panel that the only obstacle holding up the Sunoco project was legislative approval, which would allow the foreign-flagged tankers to be reflagged as U.S. vessels.
"We have a $300 to $400 million liquid natural gas facility that is awaiting one activity, one action, to begin construction to create hundreds of jobs in Southeastern Pennsylvania," Toomey told the Senate Commerce Committee. He said the project would begin "virtually immediately when Congress acts."
But the congressional action, though critical, is only one step among several that need to be completed before the Mariner project proceeds, said Thomas P. Golembeski, Sunoco's spokesman.
Analysts say the biggest obstacle facing the Mariner plan is the lack of product. Two other pipeline projects moving forward appear to have captured much of the expected Marcellus ethane production through 2017.
"There's not enough ethane produced to fill all these projects," Holmquist said.
The biggest project is a 1,230-mile pipeline to the Gulf Coast, announced Nov. 2 between Enterprise Products Partners L.P. and Chesapeake Energy Corp.
The second green-lighted project is also a partnership between Sunoco Logistics and MarkWest that would pipe Marcellus ethane to customers in Ontario. It is expected to go online in 2013.
