Energy Transfer Partners, Regency Partners plan new fractionation unit

HOUSTON, Texas - Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (NYSE: ETP) and Regency Energy Partners LP (NYSE: RGP) on Feb. 16 announced that their joint venture, Lone Star NGL LLC, will construct a second 100,000 barrel per day (b/d) natural gas liquids fractionation facility at Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Supported by multiple long-term contracts, the second fractionator is necessary to handle the increasing NGL barrels delivered via the partnerships' Woodford Shale, Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin infrastructure, including Lone Star's 570-mile West Texas Gateway NGL Pipeline.

Lone Star is on schedule to complete its West Texas Gateway NGL Pipeline and initial 100,000 b/d fractionator at Mont Belvieu in the first quarter of 2013, and expects this second fractionator to be completed in the first quarter of 2014. At an estimated cost of $350 million, the project will also include interconnectivity infrastructure to provide NGL suppliers and NGL markets with significant access to storage, other fractionators, pipelines and multiple markets along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast.

"With the capacity of our first fractionator fully contracted, and increasing customer demand for NGL outlets, the addition of a second fractionator was necessary," said Greg Bowles, senior vice president of Lone Star. "Our two new fractionators and our West Texas Gateway system are all supported by long-term agreements. These assets, along with other projects we are pursuing in these prolific regions, demonstrate our strong commitment to providing full NGL services for our customers."

Bear Paw Energy building natural gas processing plants in North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. - A North Dakota energy company plans to build two new natural gas processing plants northwest of Williston.

Bear Paw Energy is also planning construction of a 64-mile pipeline to carry natural gas liquids into Montana. Natural gas liquids include propane and butane.

Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer said the two plants will be capable of processing 200 million cubic feet of natural gas each day.

Cramer says the processing plants will cost about $275 million to build. The pipeline will cost about $24 million. It will be capable of carrying up to 65,000 barrels a day of natural gas liquids.

Plant fire at Enterprise Mount Belvieu facility drives down stock price

HOUSTON, Texas - Common units of Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) dipped sharply on the afternoon of Feb. 8 on news of an explosion and fire at the company’s Mount Belvieu natural gas liquids processing facility.

The stock closed at $42.65, down $1.15 after hitting a low of $42.42.

One person was thought to be is missing after the fire Tuesday afternoon at the Enterprise petrochemical plant near Houston, a company spokesman said.

Enterprise spokesman Rick Rainey said that a contractor was unaccounted for after the fire started at 12:15 p.m. CST. "We're trying to determine his whereabouts," Rainey said.

Earlier, a local police dispatcher said that no injuries had been reported and that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

Enterprise's facility processes natural gas into chemicals used in plastic and tire manufacturing, as well as a fuel additive known as iso-octane. It is located in Mount Belvieu, a petrochemical hub north of the Houston Ship Channel, about 30 miles east of Houston.

The blaze erupted at the facility's western storage terminal, which holds NGLs, Rainey said.

He said the plant's main operating equipment was undamaged, but that the company might shut down the pipeline connected to the plant.

ONEOK plans multi-million dollar NGL pipeline in U.S. West

SIDNEY, Mont. - ONEOK Partners has announced plans to build a multi-million dollar natural gas liquids pipeline through the region.

Representatives of the Tulsa, Okla.-based company have been on the road in eastern Montana and Wyoming visiting with county commissioners and area leaders about the upcoming $430-$500 million project.

The 500-mile Bakken Pipeline, starting near Sidney and traveling south through Wyoming into northern Colorado, will transport raw, unfractionated natural gas liquids from natural gas processing plants in the Bakken Shale play to the company's 50-percent owned existing Overland Pass Pipeline which travels to Kansas where natural gas liquids are processed.

"We’re in the real early stages of this process," Brad Borror, supervisor of external communications, said on a recent trip to Sidney to visit with Richland County commissioners.

ONEOK, doing business as Bear Paw Energy, has already notified affected landowners for surveying properties, and it's looking into purchasing private access for constructing the pipeline. In addition to the Bakken Pipeline, ONEOK is building three new gas plants in North Dakota. The move amounts to a significant financial impact for the MonDak region.

"When it’s all said and done," Borror said, "we’ll be investing approximately $1.5 billion in your region, including this pipeline."

Company officials have to conduct a number of studies focusing on local wildlife, water and soil conditions in order select a route that protects and preserves environmental and cultural resources. Additionally, building the pipeline requires construction approval from federal and state agencies.

Kinder Morgan to expand Cochin Pipeline to handle Marcellus NGLs

HOUSTON - Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. on April 20 announced plans to modify and expand the existing Cochin Pipeline system to provide a solution for transporting natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Marcellus Shale Basin to fractionation plants and chemical markets near Sarnia, Ontario, and Chicago, Ill.
Kinder Morgan plans to build approximately 250 miles of NGL pipeline from the Marcellus Shale Basin in southern Pennsylvania to the Cochin interconnect at Riga, Mich. From Riga, Kinder Morgan anticipates that product will be transported through the existing Cochin Pipeline system to Windsor, Ontario, and then through the Windsor-Sarnia Pipeline to Sarnia. Kinder Morgan also plans to reverse the eastern leg of its Cochin pipeline in order to move NGLs from Riga to the Chicago area, where it expects to build an additional pipeline to connect to existing fractionation facilities and chemical plants.
“Our proposed pipeline and key existing infrastructure offers NGL producers the quickest and most efficient solution to get their product to the market,” said Don Lindley, vice president of business development for Kinder Morgan’s Products Pipeline group.
The pipeline will be designed to transport mixed NGLs (Y-grade), as well as purity NGLs such as ethane, and will have an initial throughput capacity of 75,000 b/d and can be expanded to handle up to 175,000 b/d.

Enbridge plans natural gas liquids pipeline in Midwest U.S.

CALGARY, Alta. - Enbridge Inc., said on March 21 that it will build a new natural gas liquids pipeline to tap into markets in the Midwestern United States.
The new line will move the fuel from the Marcellus Shale in Southern Pennsylvania to existing facilities in the Chicago area, the company said in a news release.
Enbridge will develop, build, own and operate the pipeline, and plans to conduct an open season bidding process for access to the line in the second quarter of 2010.
Costs of the project were not disclosed.