HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) today announced that work is nearing completion on a series of infrastructure improvement projects designed to optimize the partnership’s Neptune cryogenic natural gas processing facility in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. The enhancements made to the Neptune plant will offer greater flow assurance and flexibility for onshore and offshore producers in the Gulf Coast region. The various initiatives include construction of a new condensate stabilizer facility at Neptune, new pipelines and associated interconnects, additional compression and installation of other related equipment, including dehydration units.
“Neptune represents one of Enterprise’s most efficient processing facilities and is a strategic part of our important Gulf Coast assets, serving as a natural gas processing hub for onshore and offshore producers,” said A.J. “Jim” Teague, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Enterprise’s general partner. “Complementing the optimization program is our existing value chain of integrated assets, which has provided us with a foundation from which we have been able to fill in the infrastructure gaps efficiently and cost effectively, allowing the full capabilities of Neptune to be realized.”
Comprising the various optimization projects are:
• Installation of a new 18,000 barrel per day (BPD) condensate stabilizer
To support improved flow assurance of natural gas production transported on the Nautilus offshore pipeline, Enterprise has completed the installation of new equipment designed to stabilize the condensate that develops in the Nautilus pipeline as the rich gas is transported from the deepwaters of the Gulf of Mexico. The stabilizer replaces a 5,000 BPD unit. Used in tandem with a new 10,000 BPD slug catcher expansion added upstream of Neptune by Enbridge, the stabilizer will promote greater efficiency by significantly reducing the need to divert natural gas that does not meet specifications. Enterprise owns a 26 percent equity interest in Neptune Pipeline Company LLC (“NPC”), which owns the Enbridge-operated Nautilus and Manta Ray pipelines.
• Columbia Gulf’s East Lateral Efficiency Optimization Project (ELEOP)
In support of Columbia Gulf and its ELEOP strategy, Enterprise has added new pipe and compression facilities that will allow Neptune to process natural gas from the South Marsh Island area of the Gulf of Mexico received via Columbia Gulf’s ELEOP project. At Neptune, producers will have access to seven residue outlets. In addition, the partnership has added compression and a new 500 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) dehydration unit at Neptune to accommodate these additional volumes.
• Anaconda Pipeline
Enterprise recently completed a 46-mile re-route of its 20-inch diameter Anaconda offshore pipeline linking it to Neptune and providing shippers with added processing reliability. To further improve flexibility and flow assurance, Enterprise is moving forward with plans to add an interconnect to the Manta Ray pipeline at Ship Shoal 207. This new interconnect will provide an outlet to the ANR pipeline system, as well as Nautilus. When completed, the initiative will provide shippers enhanced flow assurance through the Anaconda system should the Nautilus pipeline not be available due to weather, mechanical issues or other unexpected events.
• Calumet to Neptune pipeline
Construction of a new, nine-mile pipeline that carries offshore natural gas between Calumet and Neptune is another key component of the partnership’s infrastructure enhancement program. ANR and Trunkline production previously processed at the Enterprise-operated Calumet lean oil facility will be processed at the Neptune cryogenic plant. The first volumes to Neptune from the Calumet plant, which will be taken out of service, are expected by the end of 2011. In conjunction with the new pipeline, incremental compression has been added at the Neptune facility.
• Walker Ridge Gathering System Access
The optimization program also prepares Neptune to accept incremental volumes from the Walker Ridge Gathering System that Enbridge is currently building to handle production from discoveries in the ultra-deepwater region of the Gulf of Mexico. Enterprise has secured the processing rights from the anchor tenants of the Walker Ridge Gathering System, which will connect to the Manta Ray system that feeds into Nautilus. Initial production is anticipated in 2014.
Teague added, “As a result of this optimization program, the amount of offshore pipeline accessible to Neptune will essentially quadruple. Furthermore, extending Neptune’s reach to multiple pipeline systems prevents us from having to rely on a single source to continue meeting the needs of our customers who will benefit from the increased reliability.
“This ambitious, multi-phase project has been possible only because of the dedication, hard work and cooperation of the various producers, pipeline operators and facility owners who contributed to its success,” Teague concluded.
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: 50,000 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.
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.