HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) today announced that a fifth natural gas liquids (“NGL”) fractionator at its Mont Belvieu, Texas complex has begun commercial operations and is operating in excess of its nameplate capacity of 75,000 barrels per day (“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.
“We are pleased to announce the completion of our fifth NGL fractionator at Mont Belvieu,” said Michael A. Creel, president and chief executive officer for Enterprise’s general partner. “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. Notably, during construction and commissioning, we logged more than one million man-hours without a lost-time accident.”
A.J. “Jim” Teague, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Enterprise’s general partner stated, “Rising domestic NGL production from the shale plays has led to a cost advantage for the U.S. petrochemical industry favoring domestic NGLs over imported crude oil-based derivatives. The U.S. 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. 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. Dependable access to domestic NGL feedstocks has resulted in the U.S. petrochemical industry being one of the lowest-cost producers of petrochemicals in the world.
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. Enterprise’s assets include approximately: 50,000 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. For additional information regarding Enterprise, please visit www.enterpriseproducts.com.
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 Enterprise 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 Enterprise. 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, Enterprise does not intend to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.