Enterprise, Navigator begin construction on US ethylene export terminal

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Enterprise Products Partners and Navigator Holdings announced on Tuesday that construction is now under way on their joint venture ethylene export terminal.

Morgan’s Point Terminal in Texas (photo courtesy of Enterprise Products)

The terminal will be located at Enterprise’s Morgan’s Point facility in Texas on the Houston Ship Channel, with commercial operations expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The facility will have the capacity to export approximately 2.2bn lb/year (998,000 tonnes/year), with on-site storage for 66m lb and the capability to load ethylene at rates of 2.2m lb/hour.

The new export terminal will facilitate continued growth of domestic ethylene production, which is expected to reach 90bn lb/year by 2021, according to a statement.

The high-capacity ethylene salt dome storage facility Enterprise is developing at its complex in Mont Belvieu, Texas is scheduled to begin service in the second quarter of 2019.

Upon completion, this storage facility will have a capacity of approximately 600m lb with an injection/withdrawal rate of 420,000 lb/hour and will be designed to enable connections to the eight ethylene pipelines within 0.5 mile (805 metre) of the Enterprise ethylene storage system.

In addition, Enterprise is building a new ethylene pipeline from Mont Belvieu to Bayport, Texas, which is on schedule to begin service in 2020. The section from Mont Belvieu to Morgan’s Point is scheduled to be in service in 2019 to support the export terminal.