@GPA Midstream: Ethane Not Limiting Appalachian Production

With no speed bumps in sight, Appalachian shale gas production continues to accelerate, an analyst told the GPA Midstream Association on Monday.

GPA Midstream opened its annual meeting this week in Austin. More than 2200 processing, pipeline, compression and other industry professionals are registered.

Amol Wayangankar, a principal and founder of Enkon Energy Advisors, Houston, spoke on Appalachian natural gas liquids (NGL) production and midstream development.

Wayangankar said Appalachian gas production, mostly from the Marcellus Shale, was 27.6 Bcfd (781 X 10⁶ m³) in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with 19 Bcfd (538 X 10⁶ m³) only five years earlier in 2012.

“That’s simply stunning,” he said.

Wet gas, he said, is about a fourth of the output and has been relatively steady over that period. The region’s 15 NGL processing plants have adequate capacity to strip the wet gas, Wayangankar said.

“There’s a big misconception that Appalachia is floating in ethane, but that’s not the case,” he said.