By Oil & Gas Financial Journal staff
CHARLESTON, W.Va – On Feb. 16, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, along with leaders in the natural gas and chemical industries, has formed a Marcellus to Manufacturing Task Force designed to research and develop potential economic development opportunities related to Marcellus Shale and natural gas byproducts such as ethane and ethylene.
In most natural gas producing regions, ethane is a highly-valued byproduct sold as an important feedstock for the petrochemical industry. As detailed by BENTEK's Rusty Braziel, in the rapidly growing Marcellus producing region, ethane disposition poses a risk for Marcellus production.
“The environmentally responsible manner in which the extraction of natural gas from Marcellus Shale occurs will bring countless jobs to West Virginia,” Gov. Tomblin said.
“In addition, if we can feasibly develop thermal or steam crackers to make use of the ethane and ethylene associated with gas, we will have a great opportunity to reinvigorate our manufacturing sector. I have asked this Task Force to look at all of the possibilities and identify how we can take the expansion surge from the natural gas industry to positively impact our chemical and manufacturing industries.”
The task force will research and analyze the feasibility of converting ethane to ethylene using thermal or steam cracking and identify potential private sector companies that specialize in constructing and operating thermal or steam crackers.
The Governor has also instructed the task force to indentify existing infrastructure in the state, including pipelines and storage facilities, which may be upgraded to be used in conjunction with manufacturing processes associated with ethane, ethylene and other natural gas byproducts.
The Task Force will report its findings to the Governor on a semi-annual basis.
Energy industry executives appointed to serve a three-year term include W. Henry Harmon, president and CEO of Triana Energy; Michael John, president and CEO of Northeast Natural Energy; Jack Lafield, president and CEO of Caiman Energy; Steve Perdue, government affairs manager for EQT; and Scott Rotruck, vice president of corporate development and state government relations for Chesapeake Energy.
The Marcellus shale play runs through northern Appalachia, primarily in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, and Ohio. The formation runs an estimated 600 miles north to south, and is estimated to hold as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, about 50 tcf of which is recoverable using current technology.
In October, The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) and former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, one of its strategic advisors, unveiled what they called a “sweeping set of principles” designed to to help the oil and gas industry embrace the oppotunities that come with developing the second largest natural gas field in the world in a responsible way.
