Ten years ago, a large vessel launched at Energy Transfer’s Marcus Hook Industrial Complex carried ethane for the first time to Europe, triggering a thriving U.S. natural gas industry, reports Energy Transfer.
The INEOS Intrepid set sail on March 9, 2016, from the Complex, known today as the Marcus Hook Terminal, to Norway.
When “cracked” into ethylene, ethane can be formed into numerous everyday plastics for healthcare, automobile parts, clothing, food packaging, and mobile phones.
When large reserves of natural gas and NGLs were first discovered 20 years ago in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, the surplus of ethane had nowhere to go and slowed down the production of natural gas.
“Once we moved ethane out through our Mariner West and Mariner East pipelines and found a home, it opened up the door to get other products to domestic markets more reliably and efficiently – including natural gas, propane, butane, and natural gasoline,” said Rich Billman, senior vice president of Business Development at Energy Transfer.
Energy Transfer is expanding the terminal’s ethane chilling capacity, increasing the amount of ethane it can move around the world.
Read more about the role Marcus Hook plays in the world’s natural gas and ethane market at Energy Transfer.
