[excerpt] HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) today announced several new construction projects that will further extend and expand its natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) infrastructure in South Texas and Mont Belvieu, Texas to accommodate growing production volumes from the Eagle Ford Shale play. As part of the initiative, Enterprise plans to install 350 miles of pipelines, build a new natural gas processing facility, and add a new NGL fractionator at the Mont Belvieu complex near the Houston Ship Channel. In addition, the partnership recently completed several key, previously announced projects, including the initial 34-mile segment of the east-west rich gas Eagle Ford mainline and the final leg of the 62-mile White Kitchen Lateral. As a result, Enterprise soon will be able to fill the existing 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of capacity at its seven South Texas natural gas processing facilities.
Included in the planned construction, is an expansion of Enterprise’s east-west rich gas mainline that will involve adding three additional pipeline segments totaling 168 miles. The first phase will involve the installation of 26 miles of 24-inch diameter pipeline extending the mainline to the far western reaches of the Eagle Ford Shale. The remaining 142 miles, to be built in two segments, will be comprised of 30-inch and 36-inch diameter pipelines that will serve the eastern portion of the Eagle Ford Shale. Upon completion, the Eagle Ford Shale rich gas mainline system and associated laterals will consist of approximately 300 miles of pipelines representing gathering and transportation capacity of more than 600 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d).
The east end of Eagle Ford mainline will terminate at a new natural gas complex Enterprise plans to build that will feature multiple processing trains designed for deep ethane recovery and production of mixed NGLs in excess of 60,000 barrels per day (BPD). Following completion of these projects, which is expected in early 2012, Enterprise’s Texas assets will have the capability to gather, transport and process almost 2.5 Bcf/d of natural gas and produce more than 150,000 BPD of NGLs.
Takeaway capacity for residue gas from the new processing facility will be provided by a combination of existing Enterprise infrastructure and construction of additional natural gas pipelines. Specifically, Enterprise is planning to construct a new 64-mile, 30-inch diameter residue gas line from the cryogenic facility to its Wilson natural gas storage facility in Wharton County, Texas. Wilson offers access to major interstate pipelines, including Trunkline, Tennessee Gas, Transco, NGPL, Gulf South and Texas Eastern. An expansion project to increase capacity at the storage facility by 5 billion cubic feet is currently under way.
Transportation of mixed NGLs from the new processing facility to the Mont Belvieu complex will be accomplished by expanding Enterprise’s infrastructure, highlighted by the planned construction of a new 127-mile, 12-inch diameter pipeline. The new NGL pipeline will have an initial capacity of more than 60,000 BPD, readily expandable to over 120,000 BPD. The project is scheduled for completion early in 2012. [end excerpt]
A search crew found the body of Richard Shaw at about 6:30 p.m., said Rick Rainey, a spokesman for Enterprise Products. An accident at noon Tuesday at the Mont Belvieu company produced a towering fireball that burned for hours before diminishing as the sun set......Chambers County emergency management coordinator Ryan Holzaepfel said he was told by officials at the plant when he arrived Tuesday the cause of the explosion likely was a failed pump in an above-ground pipe rack area.
In addition to trained Enterprise staff, workers from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Railroad Commission, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency responded to the incident, Rainey said. [end excerpt]