Enterprise Products Partners LP has started up its 583-mile Texas Express natural gas liquids pipeline with an initial capacity of 280,000 b/d that can be ramped up to 400,000 b/d.
The line extends from Skellytown, Tex., to the NGL fractionation and storage complex in Mont Belvieu, Tex., linking producers in West and Central Texas, the Rocky Mountains, southern Oklahoma, the Midcontinent, and the Denver-Julesburg basin with takeaway capacity for growing NGL volumes and access to the Gulf Coast trading hub.
NGL volumes from the Rockies, Permian basin, and Midcontinent regions will be transported to the Texas Express mainline through EPP’s Mid-America Pipeline system between the Conway hub and its Hobbs facility in Gaines County, Tex. (OGJ Online, Oct. 10, 2007).
NGL volumes from the DJ basin will be transported to the Texas Express mainline by the Front Range Pipeline—owned by an equally split joint venture of EPP, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., and DCP Midstream Partners LP—which is under construction and expected to operate in first-quarter 2014 (OGJ Online, Apr. 12, 2012).
The Texas Express Pipeline LLC partnership includes EPP and Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP), with 35% each; Anadarko 20%; and DCP Midstream Partners 10% (OGJ Online, Sept. 6, 2011).
EPP said it also has started service on two NGL gathering systems that connect the Texas Express Pipeline with natural gas processing plants in the Anadarko-Granite Wash and Central Texas-Barnett shale production areas. The line was developed by Texas Express Gathering LLC, a second joint venture made up of EPP 45%, EEP 35%, and Anadarko 20%.