Enterprise Products Partners LP has started construction of an NGL fractionator adjacent to its existing complex in Mont Belvieu, Tex.
The new unit—which will become EPP’s tenth fractionator in the Mont Belvieu area—will have a nameplate capacity of 150,000 b/d, raising EPP’s overall fractionation capability at Mont Belvieu to 905,000 b/d, the operator said.
Scheduled to begin service during first-quarter 2020, the new fractionator—supported by long-term customer agreements—will increase EPP’s companywide fractionation capacity to about 1.4 million b/d.
“The addition of our newest fractionator will facilitate continued NGL production growth, including from the Permian basin where NGL volumes are expected to more than double over the next [4] years,” said A.J. Teague, chief executive officer of EPP’s general partner.
The new fractionator will supply NGL products for the expanding petrochemical industry on the US Gulf Coast as well as growing global demand for NGLs.
Eagle Ford shale and the Permian basin account for about 70% of US growth in NGLs, Teague added.
Earlier in the year, EPP announced it also is evaluating two expansion options that would add as much as 30,000 b/d of incremental butane isomerization capacity at its Mont Belvieu NGL fractionation and storage complex (OGJ Online, Jan. 8, 2018).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
