At many shale-related events in Washington County, officials proclaim that region, with its abundant gas reserves and wells, is the “Energy Capital of the East.”

Hundreds of miles away in Philadelphia, where there is no shale drilling, leaders looking to tap into the gas boom are speaking of an energy hub that former Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Krancer last week said would “rival and surpass Houston soon.”

The steps toward connecting both claims are taking place on 800 acres along the Delaware River south of the city in Marcus Hook, where rusty stacks and holding tanks are giving way to gleaming towers and pipes.

Nearly 1,000 contractors enter the site each day to convert the former Sunoco oil refinery into a terminal at which sister company Sunoco Logistics can receive and process hundreds of thousands of barrels of propane, ethane and other liquids pulled from Marcellus and Utica shale wells 300 miles to the west.