Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPP) has launched a binding open season for transporting propane to Mont Belvieu, Tex., on its Appalachia-to-Texas (ATEX) pipeline. ATEX already secured long-term contracts in place for ethane transportation to Mont Belvieu as of January 2012.
To accommodate shipments of propane, EPP would loop a portion of ATEX, add pumping capacity as needed, and install additional equipment for delivery of specification ethane and propane at destination points. Aggregate commitment volumes will determine ATEX’s eventual scope, but propane transportation would begin first-quarter 2015.
EPP described the project as providing northeast US producers a reliable alternative to exporting their propane, supplying US Gulf Coast petrochemical and dehydrogenation projects instead.
Originating in Washington County, Pa., ATEX’s first leg will involve building about 595 miles of new pipeline extending to Cape Girardeau, Mo., closely paralleling an existing Enterprise pipeline. At Cape Girardeau, EPP will reverse a 16-in. OD pipeline and place it into NGL service. At the southern terminus of the ATEX Express pipeline, EPP will build a 55-mile, 16-in. OD pipeline to provide shippers with access to its NGL storage at Mont Belvieu, Tex (OGJ, Feb. 4, 2013, p. 88).
The open season will end July 11.
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].
