Enterprise to leverage its midstream Market Leadership with booming downstream in USA
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (Enterprise) is planning to build one of the world’s largest Propane DeHydrogenation (PDH) unit and Polymer Grade Propylene (PGP) unit in Texas, USA.
These PDH and PGP projects are directly related to profitable development of NGL-rich natural gas production.
With the natural gas locally produced from the shale gas at $3 per mmBTU or less, the U.S. ethylene industry is now one of the lowest cost producers in the world.
The impact of this change in feedstocks, however, has resulted in a decrease in the associated production of propylene (P).
But propylene is a co-product of ethylene in the olefin industry and since 2006, the supply of propylene decreased in the aggregate of the petrochemical industry to the point to lead to periodic shortages of propylene.
Therefore Enterprise will utilize growing supplies of domestically produced propane as feedstock of its PDH world’s scale unit to provide another source of competitively priced polymer grade propylene.
This PDH plant should be added on the actual Enterprise’s existing natural gas liquids (NGL) and propylene facilities in Texas Gulf Coast.
This plant would have the capacity to:
- Consume up to 35,000 b/d of propane
- Produce up to 750,000 t/y, or approximately 25,000 b/d, of polymer grade propylene (PGP).
This greenfield PDH plant will come in addition to the expansion of 708,000 b/d of NGLs fractionation capacity, which would provide Enterprise with up to 177,000 b/d of propane feedstock.
Enterprise had previously decided to construct the seventh and eighth NGL fractionators at its Mont Belvieu, Texas complex to begin service in the fourth quarter of 2013.
They would provide 150,000 b/d NGLs additional fractionation capacity.
In total Enterprise‘s production capacity would then reach 610,000 b/d of NGLs fractionation in its Mont Belvieu facility.
In combining this new PDH plant with existing NGLs facilities, Enterprise will benefit from the propane feedstock delivered from the NGL fractionation and 100 million barrels of NGL and petrochemical storage system available in the Texas Gulf Coast region.
Enterprise’s greenfield PDH facility is expected to be completed for commercial operations in the third quarter of 2015.
Enterprise to build Polymer Grade Propylene (PGP) unit
In parallel of the PDH unit, Enterprise is also planning a 2.4 million t/y (approximately 80,000 b/d) of propylene fractionation capacity.
This propylene fractionation unit will fractionates refinery grade propylene to produce Polymer Grade Propylene (PGP).
For Enterprise the purpose of the integration of the PDH unit together with the propylene fractionation facilities is to provide operational reliability and flexibility for both processes.
These capital expenditures on downtream petrochemical activities complement Enterprise’s midstream core business since Entreprise also has PGP storage facilities and a 102-mile pipeline system, capable of delivering PGP to 18 downtream customers and to international markets through the partnership’s propylene export terminal in Seabrook, Texas.
With this midstream and downtream integration of the value chain, Enterprise secures its sourcing in propane feedstock and enhance its reliability and flexibility as a supplier of its customer in strategic building blocks of the chemical industry.
As most of the downtream project in North America, Enterprise wants to benefit from the sustainable and competitive shale gas and unconventional resource plays in the USA.
Construction and ongoing operation of the unit would require approximately 1,500 to 2,000 temporary and full-time jobs.
Enterprise is working with local jurisdictions and the state of Texas to obtain the economic development approvals necessary to site the PDH facility.
Enterprise is expected to begin commercial operations with the PDH and PGP facilities in the third quarter of 2015.
Enterprise in brief
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemical.
On its midstream activities, Enterprise is operating :
- 50,600 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines
- 190 million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, petrochemical, refined products and crude oil
- 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity
- 24 natural gas processing plants
- 58 tow boats
- 125 barges
- 20 NGL and propylene fractionators
- 6 Offshore hub platforms
- 2 NGL import/export Terminals
In addition Enterprise is providing services for natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage; NGL transportation, fractionation, storage, and import and export terminaling; offshore production platform services; crude oil and refined products transportation, storage and terminaling; petrochemical transportation and storage; and a marine transportation business.
In combining this new PDH and PGP plants with existing NGLs facilities, Enterprise will benefit from the propane feedstock delivered from various Rocky Mountain producing basins and the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas through the NGL fractionation and 100 million barrels of NGL and petrochemical storage system available in the Texas Gulf Coast region.
