Enterprise Products Partners and Navigator Holdings announced the execution of a letter of intent, to jointly develop an ethylene marine export terminal on the Houston Ship Channel.
Under the agreement, Enterprise would manage the construction, operations and commercial activities of the proposed terminal, which would be located at Enterprise’s Morgan’s Point complex. Enterprise’s Morgan’s Point facility has a 45-foot draft and includes Enterprise’s ethane marine export terminal, the world’s largest.
The ethylene export terminal would be connected to Enterprise’s ethylene salt dome storage and ethylene pipeline system, which is currently under construction.
“A strategically located ethylene export terminal is the key to unlocking growing petrochemical production capacity in the U.S. ” commented David Butters, chief executive officer of Navigator Gas.
The ethylene storage facility will have approximately 600 million pounds of capacity with an injection/ withdrawal rate of 210,000 pounds per hour expandable to 420,000 pounds per hour. Enterprise’s ethylene pipeline system will be connected to multiple producers and consumers of ethylene on the US Gulf Coast.
“Customers would have the ability to manage the transportation and storage of ethylene supplies from the tailgate of producing facilities to domestic and international consuming derivative plants. The proposed ethylene export terminal would provide U.S. petrochemical companies critical market diversification rather than relying solely on polyethylene export markets”, said A.J. Jim Teague, chief executive officer of the general partner of Enterprise.
Formation of the 50/50 joint venture to build, own and operate the ethylene marine export terminal is subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements and approval by the respective boards of directors of Enterprise and Navigator Holdings.
