The fifth natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionator at Enterprise Products Partners LP’s Mont Belvieu, TX, complex has entered operation, producing 75,000 b/d, exceeding its nameplate capacity, the company said Tuesday. Work on a sixth unit is under way as Enterprise continues to tout the bullish outlook for U.S. ethane production and its benefits for the petrochemical industry.

The new unit increases total nameplate capacity at the partnership’s Mont Belvieu facility to 380,000 b/d. Supported by long-term contracts, the unit helps accommodate increasing NGL production from shale natural gas plays, including the Eagle Ford and other basins in the Rocky Mountain and Midcontinent regions.

“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,” said Jim Teague, COO of Enterprise’s general partner. “The U.S. petrochemical industry has responded by increasing its demand for NGLs, particularly ethane, which reached up to one million b/d 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 b/d at our Mont Belvieu complex.”

Upon completion of the sixth fractionator, which was announced in June (see Daily GPI, June 28), nameplate capacity of Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu NGL fractionation facility will be more than 450,000 b/d. Service at the sixth fractionator is expected to begin in early 2013, at which time the unit will be fully contracted, Enterprise said.

The additional capacity provided by the fifth and sixth fractionators will allow Enterprise to process mixed NGLs at Mont Belvieu. These volumes are currently being diverted to Louisiana. The partnership also will be able to handle incremental volumes from its new Yoakum natural gas processing facility in Lavaca County, TX, which is scheduled to begin operations in mid-2012.

Based on industry announcements, company research and other reports, Enterprise said the conversions and expansions of existing petrochemical facilities could result in 135,000 b/d of new ethane demand. In addition, construction of new ethylene crackers could generate another 330,000 b/d 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 said.

Enterprise is currently soliciting customers for a proposed pipeline to carry ethane from the Marcellus Shale to its NGL storage complex at Mont Belvieu from which the partnership said the ethane would have access to every ethylene plant in the country (see Daily GPI, Oct. 12).

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