EPP to expand Eagle Ford gas treatment, pipeline capacities

Nov. 2, 2011
Enterprise Products Partners LP will build new gas processing and pipeline capacity in South Texas, expanding its natural gas and NGL infrastructure to accommodate expected production growth from the Eagle Ford shale.

Enterprise Products Partners LP will build new gas processing and pipeline capacity in South Texas, expanding its natural gas and NGL infrastructure to accommodate expected production growth from the Eagle Ford shale. EPP will add a 300 MMcfd train at its Yoakum cryogenic natural gas processing facility in Lavaca County, Tex., and 62 miles of 24-in. and 30-in. OD pipeline loops in the region. The company will also add sufficient compression to boost transport capacity by 300 MMcfd.

The newly announced facilities are expected to begin service first-quarter 2013.

EPP is already building an Eagle Ford rich natural gas mainline system and associated laterals consisting of roughly 300 miles of pipeline with gathering and transportation capacity of more than 600 MMcfd. The Yoakum natural gas processing facility already has 600 MMcfd of capacity under construction, expected to begin service second-quarter 2012. The new Yoakum plant will complement the partnership's seven existing natural gas processing plants in South Texas with total capacity of 1.5 bcfd.

To handle the additional NGLs from the cryogenic facility, EPP has increased the OD of its 127-mile Y-grade pipeline running between the Yoakum plant and EPP’s fractionation complex at Mont Belvieu, Tex., to 24-in. from 20-in. EPP put a fifth NGL fractionator at Mont Belvieu into service last month, bringing total capacity to 380,000 b/d, and already has a sixth under construction (OGJ Online, Oct. 18, 2011).

About 195 drilling rigs are active in the play as of end third-quarter 2011, compared with roughly 105 rigs in third-quarter 2010, according to EPP.

Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].