Posted on 01/03/2012 2:08:01 PM PST by thackney
A proposed pipeline project that could transport up to 190,000 barrels of ethane from Appalachian shale fields to the Texas Gulf Coast has secured enough customers to move forward, Enterprise Products Partners announced today.
The Houston company, which revealed two months ago that it had lined up its first long-term contract to use the pipeline, now says it has enough in place to make the project financially feasible. The 1,230-mile line is expected to be running in early 2014, taking advantage of the increased production of natural gas liquids and their lower price relative to oil-based liquids.
“The willingness of shippers to commit to a term of at least 15 years reflects the long-term potential of shale development in the Appalachian region and provides us with the assurance necessary to build the midstream infrastructure that will facilitate further development of this important domestic resource,” Enterprise president and CEO Michael A. Creel said in a statement.
A company spokesman declined to identify any of the newly signed customers or detail how much ethane they committed to purchase. In November, Enterprise announced it had signed Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. to a contract for 75,000 barrels daily.
In recent years, the Marcellus and Utica shale fields of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia have become a major hub for production of natural gas liquids. One of these, Ethane, a liquid form of natural gas, is feedstock for ethelyne, which in turn is a base material for many plastic products.
To complete the Appalachia-to-Texas project, Enterprise plans to build nearly 600 miles of pipeline from Washington County, Pa., to Cape Girardeau, Mo., then connect to an existing pipeline to Beaumont. The latter is one of two parallel pipelines that move refined products from Beaumont northward, but Enterprise spokesman Rick Rainey said the other, larger line is sufficient to meet demand.
Enterprise would then build a 55-mile connector pipeline to Mont Belvieu, where it has a storage complex, and other lines to petrochemical plants along the Gulf Coast.
Rainey said the project is expected to generate about 4,000 construction jobs and provide broader economic benefits to the petrochemical and pipeline industries and the communities that depend on them.
Demand for price-advantaged ethane feedstock over crude oil-based derivatives within the Gulf Coast petrochemical market is approximately 955,000 barrels per day (“BPD”) and continues to increase.
...
The willingness of shippers to commit to a term of at least 15 years reflects the long-term potential of shale development in the Appalachian region and provides us with the assurance necessary to build the midstream infrastructure that will facilitate further development of this important domestic resource,”...
Originating in Washington County, Pennsylvania, the first leg of the system would involve construction of approximately 595 miles of new pipeline extending to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, closely paralleling an existing Enterprise pipeline. At Cape Girardeau, Enterprise will reverse a 16-inch diameter pipeline and place it into ethane service. By utilizing an existing pipeline and following an existing right-of-way for the section to be constructed, ATEX Express offers a cost-effective and timely solution that also minimizes the project’s environmental impact.
At the southern terminus of the ATEX Express pipeline, Enterprise will be constructing a 55-mile, 16-inch diameter pipeline to provide shippers with access to the partnership’s natural gas liquids storage complex at Mont Belvieu, Texas, giving them direct or indirect access to every ethylene plant in the United States.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=80547&p=irol-newsArticle&id=1644093&highlight=
Herr Obama has yet to agree.
Not crossing an international border keeps the State Department out of the review process.
That was the department that held up the Keystone XL pipeline.
There is a drought in Texas that isn’t going to go away. Why not put in a water line through there while they are at it?
Just how much do you want to pay for water?
If you want to pay that much, there isn’t a shortage of water. If you want to wait for it to fall free from the sky, there is a shortage, for now.
Because we use all of the extra water to frack that gas out of the ground. But not really such a bad idea. Direct from Lake Erie to you.
Enterprise is an amazing privately owned company.
“It’s important to put water usage by the oil and gas industry in perspective,” Brownlow said. “For every 1 acre-foot of water used in fracking, 280 acre-feet are used for other purposes in South Texas,” he said.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/11/03/eagle-ford-task-force-gets-the-skinny-on-water/
A little ice age is coming in about 10 years and will last the rest of our lives. Which means cooler oceans or a very long term el Nina. Texas will dry up but the water from the Mississippi will be even greater then it is today.
Oh! When did that happen? It was privately owned for many years.
I'll pass.
July 1998?
Maybe?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=EPD&d=0&e=3&f=2012&g=d&a=6&b=28&c=1998&z=66&y=3366
OK. I haven’t been paying attention.
Don’t tell the EPA about this.
desalination is way to costly compared to aqueducts and pipe lines
NE Ohio had a 5.4 earthquake two days ago and I heard they blamed it on fracking.......stay tuned for prohibitions
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.