Lone Star to construct NGL pipeline from Permian Basin to Mont Belvieu

Energy Transfer Partners and Regency Energy Partners have announced that their JV, Lone Star, has board of directors approval to construct a 533-mile, 24 and 30-inch natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline from the Permian Basin to Mont Belvieu, Texas, and convert Lone Star’s existing West Texas 12-inch NGL pipeline into crude oil/condensate service.

The new pipeline and conversion projects, estimated to cost between $1.5 and $1.8 billion, are expected to be operational by third quarter of 2016 and first quarter of 2017, respectively.

The new pipeline is being built to accommodate Lone Star’s contracted NGL transportation volumes that will exceed Lone Star’s existing 290,000 bpd of capacity from the Permian Basin by 2016.

The 24-inch pipeline will initially be sized to transport 375,000 bpd from the Permian Basin to Bosque County while the 30-inch pipeline is currently sized to transport 495,000 bpd from Bosque County to Mont Belvieu, Texas. The pipelines can be easily expanded to transport additional volumes in the future.

Lone Star’s 12-inch West Texas NGL pipeline will be converted to crude/condensate service. The pipeline runs from the Midland area to the Gulf Coast and will be sized to ship 70,000 bpd to Corsicana, Texas and 100,000 bpd to Sour Lake, Texas. Lone Star plans on holding an open season for the crude/condensate service at a future date.