Newtown Square’s Sunoco Pipeline has started shipping Marcellus Shale ethane by truck to the domestic market from the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, writes Andrew Maykuth for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Gas Innovations, a Texas-based specialty gas producer, recently began loading containers with the super-cooled liquid at the complex’s new truck-loading facility. According to Ashley Madray, Sunoco Pipeline’s executive vice president, the majority of the ethane will be shipped domestically.

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Until now, Gas Innovations had purchased its ethane in Europe and shipped it here, as there were no domestic facilities that distributed smaller volumes. Among other uses, smaller volumes of ethane are used in research and development and for refrigeration by manufacturers and at storage terminals.

Sunoco Pipeline is transporting ethane from Western Pennsylvania to Marcus Hook through its Mariner East pipeline system. This move has reinforced the company’s claims that Mariner East is not strictly about exports, but also creates incentive for the creation of new domestic markets.

The pipeline at the Marcus Hook terminal will also deliver ethane that will be used as supplemental fuel for the new power plant currently under construction in Cambria County.

Read more about Sunoco Pipeline’s ethane production in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.