MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources is developing a pipeline project to deliver Marcellus shale ethane from its processing and fractionation facilities in Houston and Pennsylvania, US, to markets in Sarnia, Canada.

The project, called Mariner West, will use new and existing pipelines and will be able to transport up to 65,000 barrels of ethane per day by the third quarter of 2012.

MarkWest will install ethane extraction facilities at its Houston complex to deliver ethane and make changes to its natural gas processing complexes.

MarkWest will also construct a 25 mile pipeline from the Houston complex to an interconnection with an existing Sunoco Logistics pipeline at Vanport, Pennsylvania.

The ethane will then be transported from Vanport to Sarnia through the existing Sunoco Logistics pipelines to be modified for ethane service.