August 5, 2011
By CASEY JUNKINS Staff Writer , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
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MOUNDSVILLE - With the completion of archaeological digging, Dominion Transmission is ready to move on its natural gas processing facility on land next to the PPG Industries plant in Marshall County.

"This will be built on the ground where the archaeological dig took place. This is property Dominion now owns," Dominion spokesman Dan Donovan said Thursday.

Dominion acquired the property from PPG. The West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office previously issued an excavation permit to Dominion for the dig.

The Dominion plant - which is expected to be in service by December 2012 - should employ 40-50 full-time workers once complete, in addition to the many construction jobs that will come from building it. Public officials and industry leaders hailed the Thursday announcement as good news for the local economy and the natural gas business.

Chesapeake Energy, currently the Upper Ohio Valley's most active natural gas driller, has agreed to supply the Dominion facility with 100 million cubic feet of natural gas per day for processing. Phase one of the project calls for processing 200 million cubic feet per day, and Chesapeake also has the option to provide the additional gas.

"We're pleased the expanded capacity will provide enhanced access to markets," said Chesapeake's Director of Corporate Development Stacey Brodak.

Dominion exercised its option with PPG to purchase land and locate the new plant adjacent to PPG's Natrium facility in Marshall County, about 9 miles north of New Martinsville. The facility will connect to an existing Dominion pipeline in Ohio and West Virginia that was recently converted to handle "wet" gas, which is rich in natural gas liquids in addition to the "dry" methane natural gas.

The plant is expected to be able to fractionate - or separate the gas from the ethane, propane and butane liquids - about 36,000 barrels of the natural gas liquids daily.

The Dominion facility should not be confused with local officials' plans to attract another plant called an ethane cracker, possibly to property near the Bayer Corp. site at New Martinsville. At a cracker plant, ethane would would be further processed into ethylene to make plastic.

Gary Sypolt, chief executive officer of Dominion Energy, said the Natrium site is an ideal location for such a plant.

"We will have the capability to access production in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions, and ship products via barge, rail, truck and pipe, thus offering significant value to producers," he said.

Anne Bomar, senior vice president and general manager of Dominion East Ohio, said gas retrieved from the Utica Shale will reach Natrium's services through the large diameter, high pressure pipelines.

"Natrium will be a world class facility," said Paul Ruppert, senior vice president of Dominion Transmission. "It is being constructed to the latest industry standards to be an extremely reliable plant, which should be appealing to producers looking to capture the greatest value."

The new facility is a response to the need for additional processing and fractionation capacity in the region. The rising price of oil and the low price of natural gas have shifted drilling activity in the region from the dry gas to the wet gas areas as producers look to capture the economic value of natural gas liquids, company information notes.

"We are working to secure additional producer commitments for a second phase of the project," said Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dominion Resources, the overall parent company of the other Dominion subsidiaries.


Buck