HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) today announced it has entered into a 10-year agreement with two producers in the Eagle Ford Shale play of South Texas to provide firm crude oil transportation and marketing services. The transaction represents a commitment of 50,000 barrels per day (BPD) of capacity on the new 140-mile, 24-inch diameter crude oil pipeline being constructed by Enterprise. Scheduled to begin service in the second quarter of 2012, the pipeline has a capacity of 350,000 BPD and will offer shippers the flexibility to access major storage hubs and refining centers.
“This agreement marks our third major crude oil transportation deal with Eagle Ford Shale producers in less than a year,” said A.J. “Jim” Teague, Enterprise executive vice president and chief operating officer. “More than half of the available capacity on our new pipeline is already under commitment for the next 10 years as producers have clearly come to recognize the value our integrated midstream network provides them in maximizing the value of their growing crude oil output. The demand for our services remains brisk and we are currently in discussions with other producers for additional long-term commitments.”
Approximately 150 rigs are presently working in the Eagle Ford Shale, which have drilled more than 500 wells. Current production from the play is approximately 80,000 BPD of crude oil and condensate.
Further highlighting the versatility and strategic importance of Enterprise’s Eagle Ford Shale crude oil pipeline system is its capability to link producers to a new crude oil storage facility the partnership is constructing on a 150-acre tract in southeast Houston. Scheduled to begin operations in mid-2012, the Crude Houston Terminal will feature access to major Texas Gulf Coast refiners in Texas City, Pasadena/Deerpark, Baytown and on the Houston Ship Channel. Besides providing Eagle Ford Shale producers with a market for their crude oil, refiners gain access to reliable, local sources of supplies to support expansion projects. In addition, domestic crude oil from the Eagle Ford Shale reduces the nation’s dependence on foreign sources to produce gasoline and other refined products.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is the largest publicly traded partnership and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals. EPD’s assets include approximately: 50,200 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines; 192 million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, refined products and crude oil; and 27 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity. Services include: natural gas transportation, gathering, processing and storage; NGL fractionation, transportation, storage, and import and export terminaling; crude oil and refined products storage, transportation and terminaling; offshore production platform; petrochemical transportation and storage; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems and in the Gulf of Mexico.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein that address activities, events, developments or transactions that EPD expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including anticipated benefits and other aspects of such activities, events, developments or transactions, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including required approvals by regulatory agencies, the possibility that the anticipated benefits from such activities, events, developments or transactions cannot be fully realized, the possibility that costs or difficulties related thereto will be greater than expected, the impact of competition and other risk factors included in the reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by EPD. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. Except as required by law, EPD does not intend to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.