AltaGas Opens North Pine NGL Plant Early, Cites Progress at RIPET Propane Terminal

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--AltaGas Limited (TSX:ALA) (Calgary, Alberta) began commercial operations earlier this month at its North Pine Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) Facility in Calgary, following more than a year of construction. The project is one of several from AltaGas that the company says will create fresh opportunities for Western Canada's natural gas producers. Industrial Info is tracking $1.66 billion in active projects involving AltaGas.

The first-phase North Pine Cryogenic NGL Production Plant was completed ahead of schedule and about $15 million under budget. Originally slated for completion in late January at a cost of $135 million, the single-train facility is designed to process 110 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas from British Columbia's Montney Formation into 10,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) of propane and C3-plus NGLs. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

AltaGas already has signed long-term supply agreements with Painted Pony Energy Limited (Calgary) for some of the product. Propane, butane and condensate produced at the facility will be sent to North American markets via the facility's access to Canadian National Railway's (NYSE:CNI) (CN) (Montreal, Quebec) rail network, according to an AltaGas press release. The company is constructing a $20 million rail-car loading yard at the facility that will be able to load 22 cars at a time with product. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Some of the propane produced at North Pine will be sent to the $500 million Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (RIPET) project in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, upon RIPET's scheduled completion in first-quarter 2019. The facility would receive liquid propane from British Columbia and Alberta via an existing CN rail line, where it would be loaded into pressurized bullet tanks, cooled for storage, and transferred at atmospheric pressure on Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGC) for shipment to Asia. The throughput capacity is expected to be about 40,000 BBL/d.

AltaGas said in its press release that RIPET also is ahead of schedule and on-budget, with the balance-of-plant fabrication and civil work on track and the first modules set to arrive in first-quarter 2018. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

"Once RIPET is complete, we will be able to offer producers a broad suite of midstream services and new market diversification, including premium netbacks through the strong propane demand and pricing in Asian markets," said David Harris, President and CEO of AltaGas.

The company also is weighing its options for a proposed second train at North Pine, which would process 55 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas into another 10,000 BBL/d of propane and C3-plus NGL. For more information on the tentative expansion, see Industrial Info's project report.

AltaGas also is constructing a $30 million pair of butane and condensate pipelines to transport up to 10,000 BBL/d of butane and condensate to North Pine from the trucking terminal at AltaGas's Townsend Facility, which is about 62 miles north of Fort Saint John, British Columbia. New developments also are being proposed at the Townsend Facility, including a natural gas-processing plant expansion that would bring its total processing capacity to 298 million standard cubic feet per day, and a deep-cut retrofit that would extract additional propane and ethane. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the North Pine pipelines, Townsend plant expansion and deep-cut retrofit.

The Townsend Facility saw a separate expansion completed in August, which is expected to gradually ramp up production into the first quarter of 2018. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

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