Sunoco investing $2.5 billion in Pa. pipeline linking gas fields to Philadelphia-area facility

Sunoco Logistics says it plans to invest $2.5 billion in a planned natural gas pipeline across southern Pennsylvania.

The company said Thursday the Mariner East 2 pipeline would provide four times the capacity to move gas from Marcellus Shale drilling sites in western Pennsylvania to its Marcus Hook storage and distribution facility near Philadelphia.

Sunoco says the project involves building 350 miles of new pipeline near its existing Mariner East 1 pipeline.

It'll carry propane, butane, ethane and other gases.

The company says Mariner East 2 will have a daily capacity of 275,000 barrels compared with Mariner East 1's 70,000 barrels. That pipeline will start moving propane at year's end.

Sunoco says Mariner East 2 could be operational by the end of 2016, pending regulatory and permit approvals.