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MarkWest Liberty and Sunoco Logistics Announce Expansion of Project Mariner to Transport Marcellus Ethane to Canadian Markets
DENVER AND PHILADELPHIA—March 22, 2011— MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources, LLC, a partnership between MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: MWE) and The Energy & Minerals Group, and Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE: SXL) today announced the development of Project Mariner West, a pipeline project to deliver Marcellus Shale ethane from MarkWest Liberty’s Houston, Pennsylvania processing and fractionation complex to Sarnia, Ontario, Canada markets. Mariner West, which is being developed at the request of Marcellus producer customers and is supported by Sarnia ethane consumers, will utilize new and existing pipelines and is anticipated to have a maximum capacity to transport up to 65,000 barrels per day of ethane by the third quarter of 2012. Mariner West is an expansion of Project Mariner, a pipeline and marine project developed to transport ethane produced in the Marcellus Shale basin to US Gulf Coast and international markets by mid-2013.
To support deliveries to Canadian markets in 2012, MarkWest Liberty will make minor modifications to its natural gas processing complexes and will install ethane extraction facilities at its Houston complex to deliver ethane to Mariner West earlier than will be required for deliveries to Project Mariner. In addition, MarkWest Liberty will construct a 25-mile pipeline from the Houston complex to an interconnection with an existing Sunoco Logistics pipeline at Vanport, Pennsylvania. The ethane will then be transported from Vanport to markets in Sarnia utilizing existing Sunoco Logistics pipelines, which will be modified for ethane service. Project Mariner and Mariner West are both designed to provide Marcellus producers with access to multiple ethane markets to match the growing rich-gas production in the Marcellus.
“When combined with our growing NGL pipeline network in the Marcellus and our highly integrated Houston fractionation and marketing complex, Mariner West provides a very significant advantage to Marcellus producers,” said Frank Semple, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of MarkWest. “MarkWest and The Energy & Minerals Group are very pleased to partner again with Sunoco Logistics to further expand the midstream services we provide to our producer customers.”
“Project Mariner West has the advantage of allowing us to modify our existing pipeline facilities to reach Sarnia, Canada where there is a market for Marcellus ethane. We are pleased to participate in Project Mariner West and to partner with MarkWest Liberty in serving Marcellus producer customers,” said Lynn L. Elsenhans, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sunoco Logistics. “Our existing infrastructure is well positioned to provide an efficient solution for producers to move ethane to Sarnia as well as across Pennsylvania to a Delaware River marine port to access multiple markets.”
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MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. is a master limited partnership engaged in the gathering, transportation, and processing of natural gas; the transportation, fractionation, marketing, and storage of natural gas liquids; and the gathering and transportation of crude oil. MarkWest has extensive natural gas gathering, processing, and transmission operations in the southwest, Gulf Coast, and northeast regions of the United States, including the Marcellus Shale, and is the largest natural gas processor and fractionator in the Appalachian region
The Energy & Minerals Group is the management company for a series of private equity funds totaling in excess of $2.5 billion of commitments. EMG focuses exclusively on making direct investments across the natural resources industry in conjunction with experienced management teams focused on hard assets that are integral to existing and growing markets. For additional information on EMG, please contact John Raymond at 713-579-5000.
Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE: SXL), headquartered in Philadelphia, is a master limited partnership that owns and operates refined products and crude oil pipelines and terminal facilities. The Refined Products Pipeline System consists of approximately 2,200 miles of refined products pipelines located in the northeast, midwest and southwest United States and equity interests in four refined products joint-venture pipelines. The Terminal Facilities consist of approximately 10 million shell barrels of refined products terminal capacity and approximately 24 million shell barrels of crude oil terminal capacity (including approximately 21 million shell barrels of capacity at the Nederland Terminal on the Gulf Coast of Texas). The Crude
Oil Pipeline System consists of approximately 5,400 miles of crude oil pipelines, located principally in Oklahoma and Texas.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements.” All statements other than statements of historical facts included or incorporated herein may constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary significantly from those expressed or implied in such statements and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Although MarkWest and Sunoco Logistics each believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, MarkWest and Sunoco Logistics can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that affect operations, financial performance, and other factors as discussed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among the factors that could cause results to differ materially are those risks discussed in the periodic reports
MarkWest and Sunoco Logistics each file with the SEC, including each of their Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. You are urged to carefully review and consider the cautionary statements and other disclosures made in those filings, specifically those under the heading “Risk Factors.” MarkWest and Sunoco Logistics do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement except as required by law.
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