Enterprise Products eyes expansion of Midland-to-Sealy crude pipeline

Navigator Holdings

31/01/2018 15:46

By Bryan Sims 
    HOUSTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Enterprise Products Partners LP 
 EPD.N  said on Wednesday it could expand capacity on its 
Midland-to-Sealy crude oil pipeline by more than 20 percent to 
help transport even more oil from the Permian Basin of West 
Texas and New Mexico, the largest U.S. oilfield. 
    The expansion comes as Exxon Mobil Corp  XOM.N  and others 
map out aggressive growth for Permian operations, fueling a 
rising need for transport to refining and export facilities near 
the U.S. Gulf Coast. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1PP1LV 
    Crude flows on the line averaged 330,000 bpd after the 
pipeline came online in November. Flows are expected to hit 
450,000 bpd as soon as April once the line is fully operational, 
Enterprise executives said on an earnings conference call on 
Wednesday. 
    Preparations are under way to potentially further boost 
capacity on the line by installing pumps and drag reducing 
agents, chemicals added to pipelines to improve the flow of 
liquids, according to Enterprise's Graham Bacon. 
    "Right now we've got the capacity to go in the 540,000 bpd 
to 550,000 bpd range. There's a few other studies that we can do 
to tweak it that we might be able to get slightly higher than 
that, but we haven't completed those yet. Those are under way," 
he said. 
    Enterprise said separately it signed a 50/50 joint venture 
with Navigator Holdings Ltd  NVGS.N  to build a new 1 
million-ton-per-year ethylene export facility on the U.S. Gulf 
Coast. The facility is expected to open by 2020.  
    Enterprise is also developing a high-capacity ethylene salt 
dome storage facility at its complex in Mont Belvieu. The 
facility will be able to store 600 million pounds.  
    Enterprise is also building an ethylene pipeline from Mont 
Belvieu to Bayport, Texas, which is scheduled to begin service 
in 2020. 
    Shares of Enterprise fell about 1 percent to $50.05 in 
midday trading. 
 
 (Reporting by Bryan Sims in Houston; Editing by Ernest Scheyder 
and Frances Kerry) 
 ((Bryan.Sims@thomsonreuters.com; 713-210-8509; Reuters 
Messaging: bryan.sims.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: ENTERPRISE PRODT RESULTS/