US Enterprise buys isobutylene plant from bankrupt firm

19 November 2010 21:19  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--US-based Enterprise Products Partners has bought out of bankruptcy a high-purity isobutylene (HPIB) plant, part of a $38.5m (€28.1m) deal that includes terminal services for refined products and petrochemicals, the company said on Friday.

The plant has a capacity of 300m lb/year (136,000 tonnes/year), much of which is under contract, Enterprise said.

In addition to the HPIB plant, the site also has 450,000 bbl of storage for refined products, Enterprise said. The storage space is accessible by barge, as the site is on the Houston Ship Channel.

Also, the site can store as many as 105 railcars, Enterprise said.

With a large part of the site still undeveloped, Enterprise could make use of the land itself or through a partnership, the company said.

The deal complements Enterprise's natural gas liquids (NGL), petrochemical and refined products businesses, according to a statement by Michael Creel, chief executive. In addition, the deal is a natural extension of the company's operations in Mont Belvieu, Texas, which will provide feedstock for the HPIB plant.

"The integration of this facility will extend our value chain in the butane/isobutylene market and broaden the products and services offered by our petrochemical services business," Creel said.

The site was opened in 2009 by its previous owner Bigler Petrochemical.

At the time, the HPIB start-up represented the first phase of a $1.2bn investment in the company's Pasadena site, Bigler said.

Bigler had planned to add an alkylation unit, an acid regeneration unit and a liquid bulk terminal, which could have accommodated 12m bbl of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), refined products and chemicals, Bigler said.

However, the company filed for US bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in October 2009.

On 16 June 2010, Bigler held an auction, selling off most of its assets, the company said in its reorganisation plan.

Intercontinental Terminals bought some land for $20.5m, Bigler said. Enterprise bought the plant.

($1 = €0.73)

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By: Al Greenwood
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