Enterprise to Build Propane Dehydrogenation Unit

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) today announced that it plans to build one of the world’s largest propane dehydrogenation (“PDH”) units on the Texas Gulf Coast, with the capacity to consume up to 35,000 barrels per day (“BPD”) of propane to produce up to 1.65 billion pounds per year (approximately 750,000 metric tons per year or approximately 25,000 BPD) of polymer grade propylene (“PGP”). The facility would integrate with Enterprise’s existing natural gas liquids (“NGL”) and propylene facilities. Supported by long-term, fee-based contracts executed with companies that have investment grade debt ratings, the PDH facility is expected to begin commercial operations in the third quarter of 2015.

From a propane feedstock supply perspective, the PDH unit would be supported by Enterprise’s NGL fractionation and storage system on the Texas Gulf Coast. By 2015, with completion of expansions that have already been announced, Enterprise would have 708,000 BPD of NGL fractionation capacity, which would provide up to 177,000 BPD of propane supply. In addition, the facility would be supported by the partnership’s approximately 100 million barrels of NGL and petrochemical storage facilities in the Texas Gulf Coast region. In 2015, the PDH unit would also be complemented by Enterprise’s 5.3 billion pounds per year (approximately 2.4 million metric tons per year or approximately 80,000 BPD) of propylene fractionation capacity, which fractionates refinery grade propylene to produce PGP. The integration of the PDH unit with Enterprise’s propylene fractionation facilities would provide operational reliability and flexibility for both processes. Enterprise also has PGP storage facilities and a 102-mile pipeline system, capable of delivering PGP to 18 downstream customers and to international markets through the partnership’s propylene export terminal in Seabrook, Texas.

Construction and ongoing operation of the unit would require approximately 1,500 to 2,000 temporary and full-time jobs. Enterprise is working with local jurisdictions and the state of Texas to obtain the economic development approvals necessary to site the PDH facility.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals. The partnership’s assets include approximately: 50,600 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines; 190 million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, petrochemicals, refined products and crude oil; and 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity. Services include: natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage; NGL transportation, fractionation, storage, and import and export terminaling; offshore production platform services; crude oil and refined products transportation, storage and terminaling; petrochemical transportation and storage; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems and in the Gulf of Mexico.

Source: Enterprise