Second segment of Aegis Ethane pipeline completed
HOUSTON – The second segment of the Aegis pipeline which delivers ethane from Beaumont to Lake Charles has been completed.
It is now ready to deliver ethane to other Gulf Coal petrochemical facilities.
This new 48-mile segment, along with the initial 60-mile segment currently in service, provides reliable ethane supplies to petrochemical facilities between Mont Belvieu, Texas and Lake Charles.
The final leg of the 270-mile Aegis system will extend the pipeline from Lake Charles to the Mississippi River and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. Combined with Enterprise’s existing South Texas system, Aegis will provide shippers with access to a 500-mile ethane header system between Corpus Christi, Texas and the Mississippi River in Louisiana. The Aegis pipeline is supported by customer commitments in excess of 300,000 barrels per day (“BPD”) that ramp up over the next four years. The capacity of the pipeline can be expanded to approximately 400,000 BPD with additional pumps.
“Access to cost-advantaged ethane as a feedstock will be vital as the petrochemical industry along the Gulf Coast is expected to grow substantially over the next five years,” said A.J. “Jim” Teague, chief operating officer of Enterprise’s general partner. “Aegis will serve as a major ethane supply artery along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, which will include approximately 20 petrochemical facilities representing more than 90 % of the nation’s ethylene capacity by 2020. Seamless connectivity to our storage facilities at Mont Belvieu and our existing integrated midstream network has generated strong customer interest in the Aegis project.”
Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu complex is the terminus for more than 3 million BPD of natural gas liquids (“NGL”) supply pipeline capacity, is connected to more than 2 million BPD of industry NGL fractionation capacity and over 110 million barrels of EPD-owned salt dome storage capacity. With access to such a comprehensive network of integrated infrastructure, Aegis offers flow assurance and market choices to producers while providing consuming customers enhanced reliability and supply choices.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals. Our services include: natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage; NGL transportation, fractionation, storage and import and export terminals; crude oil gathering, transportation, storage and terminals; petrochemical and refined products transportation, storage and terminals; petrochemical transportation and services; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems and in the Gulf of Mexico. The partnership’s assets include approximately 49,000 miles of onshore pipelines; 225 million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, petrochemicals, refined products and crude oil; and 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity.