ABOUT ASH AND PROJECT SUMMARY

PROJECT BACKGROUND

State officials in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are promoting a high-technology program to enhance economic development by expanding the market for ethane and other natural gas liquids (NGLs) production from the liquids-rich Marcellus and Utica shale plays. The vision is to create a robust infrastructure supporting the creation of value from the prolific NGLs production in the Appalachian Basin, including NGLs storage and trading plus pipeline infrastructure.

The Tri-State Shale Coalition (see following section) realized that a critical first step in the development of infrastructure and expanded industrial growth would be to conduct a geologic investigation of the potential to develop adequate subsurface storage along the pipeline route. Such a study would provide data essential to decision-makers intent on supporting the development of an Appalachian Storage Hub and the petrochemical industry.

The Appalachian Oil and Natural Gas Research Consortium (AONGRC), a program of the WVU Energy Institute's National Research Center for Coal and Energy, was tasked with evaluating the storage potential of subsurface stratigraphic units along the pipeline route. Individual formations and intervals of interest include the Greenbrier Limestone for subsurface mining; the Salina salt for the creation of cavities through brine extraction; and depleted gas fields and gas storage fields in sandstone reservoirs in the Lower Mississippian (Keener to Berea Interval); Upper Devonian (Venango, Bradford and Elk Intervals), Lower Devonian (Oriskany Sandstone); Upper Silurian (Newburg sandstone); Lower Silurian (Clinton/Medina Group); and Lower Ordovician (Rose Run Formation) - Upper Cambrian (Gatesburg Formation).

• The goal of the study was to complete a geologic study of all potential options for subsurface storage of liquid ethane and other NGLs along and adjacent to the Ohio River from southwest Pennsylvania to eastern Kentucky, with a similar study along the Kanawha River in West Virginia. This involved the mapping and identification of areas where the Salina F Salt is at least 100 feet thick and suitable for solution mining; mapping and identification of areas of the Greenbrier Limestone that are at least 40 feet thick and suitable for hard-rock mining; and mapping the thickness and extent of sandstone reservoirs in depleted gas fields that could be converted to NGLs storage.
  
  
• The study was completed July 31, 2017, and produced three main products: (1) a regional subsurface geologic investigation of all geologic units of interest; (2) a detailed reservoir characterization effort, including field-level studies, rating criteria used to screen candidate fields, the final ranking of storage candidates and presentation of three prospect areas; and (3) the publicly accessible website in which all of the above reside. These deliverables are intended to guide the future site investigations conducted by any operators interested in developing the Appalachian Storage Hub.
  
  

TRI-STATE SHALE COALITION

Promoting a World Scale Economic Opportunity

In 2015 the Governors of Pennsylvania and West Virginia and the Lt. Governor of Ohio signed a Tri-State Regional Cooperation Agreement – an unprecedented commitment to cross-border promotion of the economic opportunities presented by the Marcellus and Utica Shales to build a global petrochemical hub.

The Coalition’s founding organizations – Team NEO, the Allegheny Conference, VisionShared, and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation – have since been working with partners including JobsOhio, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the West Virginia Department of Commerce, and the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth to advance initiatives in policy, workforce, transportation and infrastructure, innovation, and marketing.

This workshop is the first work product of the Tri-State Shale Coalition’s Transportation and Infrastructure working group. Coalition member WVU defined and organized the research through the Appalachian Oil and Natural Gas Research Consortium of the WVU Energy Institute’s National Research Center for Coal and Energy. Researchers from WVU and the West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio Geological Surveys conducted the work. Initial funding for the project was provided by Tri-State Coalition Member, the Benedum Foundation, with WVU’s Energy Institute securing matching funding from 13 industrial partners.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The PTTC and WVU Energy Institute thank the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation for providing the initial funding for the Appalachian Storage Hub project and the following companies for providing the matching funding that made this project possible: AEP, Antero, Blue Racer, Charleston Area Alliance, Chevron, Dominion, EQT, First Energy/Team NEO, Mountaineer NGL Storage LLC, Noble Energy, Southwestern Energy, XTO Energy, and the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA).

We also would like to acknowledge the efforts of the WVU Foundation for taking the lead in obtaining these matching funds, and the WVU Research Corporation and the WVU Corporate Relations Office for their administrative support.