Marathon Petroleum has started up its new, $170 million, 35,000-barrel-per-day condensate splitter at its Catlettsburg, Ky., refinery. Via the Huntington, W.V., Herald-Dispatch, the splitter is processing condensate from the Utica Shale and brings the refinery’s capacity to 300,000 barrels per day. The two-year project also included the construction of four 50,000-barrel crude storage tanks.
Last year the federal government began to allow companies such as Enterprise Products Partners and Pioneer Natural Resources to export condensate, raising speculation that the long-standing U.S. ban on crude oil exports will eventually be lifted.
