TexStar Midstream Services LP, San Antonio, will install two fractionation units in Corpus Christi, Tex., adjacent LyondellBasell’s Equistar Chemicals LP olefins plant.
Combined, the new fractionators will be able to process 63,000 b/d of NGLs from the Eagle Ford shale; Equistar will operate the fractionators for TexStar, the company said.
The announcement follows news earlier this month from Phillips 66 that it will develop a 100,000-b/d NGL fractionator at Old Ocean, Tex., near the company’s Sweeny refinery, some 40 miles southwest of Houston. Construction will begin early next year with start-up by second-half 2015, said the company (OGJ Online, Apr. 3, 2013).
Equistar will provide various utilities to the new Corpus Christi units and purchase ethane and propane under a long-term agreement.
The units will sit on a 40-acre site owned by Equistar and leased to TexStar. Construction will begin this month with start-up projected for later this year.
Equistar has recently announced plans to expand ethylene capacity at Corpus Christi by 800 million lb/year.