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A different natural gas ‘frac’ trend is on the rise for the Gulf Coast
Fuel Fix ^ | May 10, 2011 | Tom Fowler

Posted on 05/10/2011 2:02:21 PM PDT by thackney

As we’ve noted previously, the shale gas production boom is helping lift chemical industry profits and paving the way for further U.S. chemical industry expansion.

Another beneficiary of the gas production expansion is companies that process natural gas, which is often called fractionation.

Natural gas usually needs to have impurities removed from it before shortly after it is produced from wells and can be moved via pipeline. This includes natural gas liquids such as propane, butane, pentane, hexane and heptane — which can be very valuable products themselves.

Since many of the shale gas formations that are being tapped are particularly “wet” with NGLs, that means there’s a need for more processing capacity.

Enterprise Products Partners said Monday it will expand its Mont Belvieu, Texas, fractionation capacity by about 7,500 barrels per day, with plans to have the facilities online by early 2013.

DCP Partners and Targa Resources also have plans for an added 100,000 barrels per day in capacity at Mont Belvieu.

These projects and others announced in the past week alone will increase capacity in Mont Belvieu by 32 percent, the folks at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. say in a research note today. That’s on top of the 14 percent expansion already underway.

All told, Mont Belvieu could go from 860,000 barrels per day capacity to 1,253,000 barrels per day by 2013. Now, what does that mean for NGL prices?

“After a decade of flat NGL production, it will be hard to absorb that capacity increase without reverberations,” TPH notes.

That’s a nice way of saying they’re gonna go down.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: energy; naturalgas; ngl; propane

1 posted on 05/10/2011 2:02:28 PM PDT by thackney
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To: thackney

I’ll take all that iso-octo-heptane “contaminant” the driller cares to dispose of!


2 posted on 05/10/2011 2:12:28 PM PDT by Neidermeyer
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To: thackney

FANTASTIC NEWS!!!

Guess I am going to put in Propane for backup in my house after all!


3 posted on 05/10/2011 2:22:40 PM PDT by dila813
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To: thackney
CNG vehicles NOW! 130 octane - higher compression - better performance.

Home grown energy - no more money to Sand Countries or that big Pineapple Haystack in Venezuela.

4 posted on 05/10/2011 2:26:13 PM PDT by muleskinner
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To: muleskinner

If I could find a place to refill, I’d switch my rig to CNG today. We have one refueling station in the entire state (Billings, MT)


5 posted on 05/10/2011 2:33:46 PM PDT by familyof5
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To: familyof5
"If I could find a place to refill, I’d switch my rig to CNG today. We have one refueling station in the entire state (Billings, MT)"

And there you have the problem with CNG....lack of infrastructure. It is either going to take a law and/or a subsidy to get gas stations to include CNG fuel-up points.

6 posted on 05/10/2011 3:26:29 PM PDT by Wonder Warthog
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To: thackney

***This includes natural gas liquids such as propane, butane, pentane, hexane and heptane — which can be very valuable products themselves.***

In N W New Mexico some of us tried to use “drip gas” in our autos. It worked but knocked and shot out clouds of water vapor.

One man blew up his engine using drip gas. All the wells around now have locks on their outlets, and if you get caught, WOW! You are also charged with burning untaxed fuel in your auto.


7 posted on 05/10/2011 3:40:17 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Click my name. See my home page, if you dare!)
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To: Wonder Warthog

I am guessing home refueling units will build the market first. Then after there are more vehicles, CNG commercial stations will be economic.


8 posted on 05/10/2011 3:48:17 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer (biblein90days.org))
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To: thackney
"I am guessing home refueling units will build the market first. Then after there are more vehicles, CNG commercial stations will be economic."

I'm more of the opinion that CNG will show up in heavy vehicles (long haul trucks) and that truck stops will be the first wide-spread refueling option. If you have a home refueling station, what happens when you're away from home (unless your CNG is multi-fuel...and necessarily multi-tank)?? At this point in time, the only place the home-fueling station really makes sense is for the "heavy commuter" whose main travel is home-work-home. Now, admittedly that's not a small market, but that also means that said commuter also needs a second, non-CNG vehicle for long trips.

Either way....it'll be "interesting" to see how it develops. And I'm darned glad to see an abundant new energy source showing up.

9 posted on 05/10/2011 4:11:28 PM PDT by Wonder Warthog
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To: muleskinner; Red Badger

CNG vehicles NOW!

Amen!


10 posted on 05/10/2011 7:34:54 PM PDT by CPT Clay (Pick up your weapon and follow me.)
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