Australian company Monadelphous forms joint venture with US firm to tap US energy infrastructure projects

Australian engineering company Monadelphous Group Ltd has formed a joint venture with a Pittsburgh-based construction firm named Mascaro Construction to explore the natural gas pipeline market in the U.S. The JV is Monaro LLC.

The jointly-owned company will now target the Marcellus and Utica shale gas regions in the U.S for projects to lay pipelines to support midstream and downstream production.

No official response was avaialble from the partnering companies, but chemical processing has been mentioned as one of the plans by Monadelphous, in a statement. This indicates both companies are planning to leverage the proposed Beaver ethane cracker plant from Royal Dutch Shell, reports Biz Journals.

Engineering expertise

Headquartered in Victoria Park, Western Australia, Monadelphous Group Limited has interests in construction, maintenance and engineering services and caters to the resources, energy and infrastructure sectors.

Meanwhile, oil and gas operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions continue to elicit interest from more companies. Leading clean technology manufacturer Capstone Turbine Corporation that is into micro-turbine energy systems, announced the receipt of multiple orders from gas producing companies in the Marcellus and Utica wet gas region.

The Pennsylvania-based energy company plans to power the site with Capstone C30 MicroTurbines backed by PLC-based controllers and distribution panels, reports Market watch.

Rising investment

Although, natural gas prices are falling, industry leaders affirm that investments at West Virginia’s natural gas industry is soaring. This is despite many West Virginia drillers parking their rigs, seeing the oil and natural gas prices plunging. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced an across-the-board budget cut of 4 percent for most West Virginia government agencies and cited lower prices for natural gas sales that hit the state’s tax collections.

Top executives of many companies are betting on the Marcellus and Utica shales in northern West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, reports Coal Valley News.

Al Schopp, regional vice president and treasurer of Antero Resources Corp., said Antero operated 15 drilling rigs in West Virginia in 2014 and operating only six this year.

“We have 390,000 acres in West Virginia. We have approximately 3,000 (potential drilling) locations.” He said the development plan is for 30-plus years.

“We’re committed to West Virginia for the long term. We were not the first guy in but we hope to be the last guy out," he said.

Antero spent almost US$5 billion (AU$7 billion) in West Virginia since it drilled the first well in the state in 2009, Schopp said. Antero’s operation in West Virginia extends from Bridgeport to Parkersburg and to counties of Tyler and Wetzel.

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