Enterprise starts up new NGL fractionator in Texas
Enterprise Products said on Tuesday that its fifth natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionator at its complex in Mont Belvieu, Texas, has begun commercial operations and is operating in excess of its nameplate capacity of 75,000 bpd.
The new unit increases total nameplate capacity at the partnership’s Mont Belvieu facility to 380,000 bpd.
Supported by long-term customer contracts, the new unit provides the fractionation capacity needed to accommodate increasing NGL production from domestic shale plays, including the Eagle Ford and other basins in the Rocky Mountain and Mid-continent regions, the company said.
“We are pleased to announce the completion of our fifth NGL fractionator at Mont Belvieu,” said Michael A. Creel, CEO for Enterprise.
“I want to congratulate our engineering, construction and operating groups for completing this project on budget and more than three months ahead of schedule and doing so in a safe and efficient manner,” added Creel. “Notably, during construction and commissioning, we logged more than one million man-hours without a lost-time accident.”
A.J. “Jim” Teague, chief operating officer for Enterprise, said: “Rising domestic NGL production from the shale plays has led to a cost advantage for the US petrochemical industry favoring domestic NGLs over imported crude oil-based derivatives.
“The US petrochemical industry has responded by increasing its demand for NGLs, particularly ethane, which reached up to one million barrels per day during the third quarter of this year,” Teague continued.
“With petrochemical companies announcing more conversions, expansions and new construction projects that will consume additional ethane, and producers announcing more discoveries of shale plays with NGL-rich natural gas reserves, we have started construction of a sixth NGL fractionator with a nameplate capacity of 75,000 bpd at our Mont Belvieu complex.”
Upon completion of the sixth fractionator, total nameplate capacity of Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu NGL fractionation facility will increase to more than 450,000 bpd.
Service at the sixth fractionator is projected to begin in early 2013, at which time the unit will be fully contracted.
The additional capacity provided by the fifth and sixth fractionators will allow Enterprise to process mixed NGLs at its Mont Belvieu complex that are currently being diverted to Louisiana, as well as incremental volumes from the partnership’s new Yoakum natural gas processing facility in Lavaca County, Texas, which is scheduled to begin operations in mid-2012.
Based on industry announcements, company research and other reports, Enterprise expects the conversions and expansions of existing petrochemical facilities could result in 135,000 bpd of new ethane demand.
In addition, construction of new ethylene crackers could generate another 330,000 bpd of ethane demand, according to the company.
Dependable access to domestic NGL feedstocks has resulted in the US petrochemical industry being one of the lowest-cost producers of petrochemicals in the world.
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