Enterprise Products Prepares for Completion of PDH Unit

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE:EPD) (Houston, Texas) reported good operational and financial results for the first quarter of this year. As the midstream company nears completion of a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Texas, it also has its eyes set on natural gas processing plants in the Permian Basin and a crude oil export terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast.

In a Tuesday conference call with analysts, Enterprise Co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Teague discussed the company's accomplishments in the recently passed quarter and the progress being made on its projects. "We had record pipeline fee-based natural gas processing volumes, record NGL [natural gas liquids] marine terminal volumes and near-record total marine terminal volumes," he said regarding the quarter. "In March alone, our marine terminals loaded over 70 million barrels of NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals for export."

Enterprise may be shipping even more petroleum products from its terminals in the near future. The company is underway with an expansion of its hydrocarbons export terminal on the Houston Ship Channel. The project entails constructing a dock capable of accommodating Suezmax vessels with the capability of loading approximately 840,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) of crude oil, increasing the facility's overall loading capacity. The project is expected to wrap up this summer. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Terminals Project Database can click here for more details.

One of Enterprise's largest projects also is set to be completed in the coming months. Enterprise has been underway with construction of a second PDH unit at its complex in Mont Belvieu, Texas, since 2020. The unit will use 35,000 BBL/d of propane as feedstock to produce 1.65 billion pounds per year of propylene, doubling the facility's production capacity. The unit is expected to be commissioned in the second quarter of this year. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Production Project Database can click here for the full report.

Other projects are lined up for completion in the second half of the year, including the company's twelfth NGL fractionator at Mont Belvieu. The 150,000-BBL/d fractionator will boost the facility's total fractionation capacity to 1.25 million BBL/d. Subscribers can click here for more information.

The new fractionator could be buoyed by additional feedstock from the Poseidon natural gas processing plant in the Permian, which is under construction and set to be completed about the same time as the fractionator. The cryogenic processing plant will be able to process up to 350 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and produce more than 40,000 BBL/d of NGLs. Subscribers can click here for the full report.

Enterprise is playing a longer game with one of its biggest projects, although according to Teague, the company is ahead of rival projects in the planning process. The SPOT crude oil export terminal will be located on the Texas Gulf Coast within the Outer Continental Shelf in the Galveston area. The facility would be capable of loading very large crude carriers (VLCCs), with a loading capability of about 85,000 barrels per hour. The facility would have two pipelines capable of loading multiple grades of crude oil, with the ability to evacuate them in the event of a hurricane. Teague said, "For SPOT, we received our recorded decision last November and expect to get other permits and our license in the second half of the year. We are way ahead of other applicants... Time is on our side as we commercialize this project, as we don't think it's needed until 2027." Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

Enterprise's total crude oil pipeline transportation rose to 2.3 million BBL/d in the first quarter, up from 2.2 million BBL/d a year earlier. The company expects growth capital expenditures of between $2.4 billion and $2.8 billion this year, with $400 million in sustaining capital spending.

Enterprise reported first-quarter 2023 net income of $1.4 billion, up from $1.3 billion for the first quarter of 2022.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Database can click here to view reports for all of the projects discussed in this article and click here for the related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).