This article was updated Aug. 19.
Targa Resources LP, Houston, has started operations on the 100,000-b/d Train 4 at its Cedar Bayou fractionator at Mont Belvieu, Tex. Also, the company in mid-July broke ground on its 200-MMcfd cryogenic Longhorn gas processing plant in Wise County in North Texas.
Both announcements were part of Targa’s Aug. 1 earnings call.
The $150-million Longhorn plant will start operations in early 2014, delayed by regulatory filings from third-quarter this year. The $385-million Train 4 expansion brings Cedar Bayou “net” fractionation capacity to 346,000 b/d, according to the earnings presentation.
Targa owns 88% of the Cedar Bayou fractionator; BP owns the remaining 12%.
The fractionator project was grounded in agreements between Targa and DCP Midstream LLC, Denver. When it announced Train 4 in 2011, Targa also said it was evaluating another 100,000-b/d Train 5 expansion (OGJ Online, Oct. 20, 2011). The presentation earlier this month made no mention of Train 5 plans.
In addition, Targa’s presentation said the company’s capacity to export LPG from its Gulf Coast terminal will expand to 3 million bbl/month in third quarter, from 1-1.5 million bbl/month. By third-quarter 2014, export capacity will exceed 5 million bbl/month.
Targa operates one of only two NGL export terminals on the Upper Texas Coast. In March this year, Enterprise Products Partners LP, Houston, began operations at the expanded Houston Ship Channel LPG export terminal owned by Oiltanking Partners LP, Houston.
The expansion increased loading capacity for low-ethane propane to about 7.5 million bbl/month from 4 million bbl/month (OGJ Online, Mar. 7, 2013).
Contact Warren R. True at [email protected].