Enterprise to expand petrochem infrastructure assets

08-Jan-07

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. plans to expand its 48 mile refinery grade propylene (RGP) pipeline system between Texas City and Mont Belvieu, Texas from 23,000 bpd, to 32,000 bpd by Q4-2007, with the installation of additional pumps. This expansion will facilitate access to increasing volumes of RGP from the Texas City area for transportation, storage and fractionation at Mont Belvieu facilities. Two other petrochemical infrastructure projects that were announced in March 2006, are on schedule. The project to interconnect its recently acquired 66 mile, 50,000 bpd RGP pipeline with a refinery in Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas and Enterprise's Mont Belvieu propylene fractionator and storage facilities - is nearing completion, and is expected to be operational in January 2007. This pipeline will be further expanded with an additional interconnect to a second Beaumont/Port Arthur area refinery in late 2007. Additional RGP volumes from the second interconnect are expected by early 2008. Construction of a fourth propylene fractionator at its Mont Belvieu facility is also on schedule. The new splitter, which is slated to be in service during Q3-2007, will increase the partnership's propylene/propane fractionation capacity from 58,000 bpd to about 73,000 bpd, which represents an additional 1 billion pounds of polymer grade propylene pa. Polymer grade propylene is 99.5% pure propylene. Increased access to RGP supplies through both the new Beaumont /Port Arthur RGP pipeline and the expanded Texas City RGP pipeline are expected to be available for fractionation at the expanded splitter facility.