Range Resources announces first ethane contract for Marcellus Shale

FORT WORTH, Texas — U.S. natural gas company Range Resources today announced a deal to sell ethane from its Marcellus Shale operations in southwestern Pennsylvania to Calgary-based NOVA Chemicals Corporation, according to a press release.

The ethane will transported from Pennsylvania to the international border near Marysville, Mich., through the planned Mariner West Project, a Marcellus Shale ethane pipeline project jointly developed by Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. and MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC.

“This is an important milestone in the development of the Marcellus Shale,” said John Pinkerton, chairman and CEO of Range Resources. “After years of planning and studying alternative solutions, this project is the first in a series of projects expected to be built to service the growing liquids-rich area of the Marcellus Shale. Range is excited to be associated with these organizations in pioneering the path of bringing much-needed ethane to the North American petrochemical industry.”