US Enterprise, Navigator load first vessel at new ethylene export terminal

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Enterprise Products Partners and Navigator Holdings confirmed on Wednesday that a first cargo of ethylene has been exported from their 50/50 joint venture marine terminal at Morgan’s Point, Texas, on the Houston Ship Channel.

The “Navigator Europa” recently departed the facility carrying 25m pounds (11,300 tonnes) of ethylene for Japanese trading company Marubeni, Enterprise said in statement.

Latest shipping data shows the vessel at the Panama Canal:

Source: Marine Traffic

The first cargo had been earmarked to load in H2 December, according to European market sources, likely heading to Asia.

There was also unconfirmed talk that the next ethylene shipment to load would be in February on the vessel the Happy Albatross, potentially for a European receiver.

ICIS reported on the first ethylene shipment from Morgan’s Point last month, citing unnamed industry sources.

The new terminal features two docks and the capacity to load 2.2bn lb/year (1m tonnes/year) of ethylene.

A refrigerated storage tank for 66m pounds of ethylene is also being built on-site and will increase the capability to load ethylene up to a rate of 2.2m lb/hour.

Tank construction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020, Enterprise said.

The export terminal is pipeline-connected to Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu, Texas complex, where the company is in the process of commissioning a high-capacity ethylene salt dome storage well with a capacity of 600m pounds.

It will facilitate continued growth of domestic ethylene production, which is expected to reach 35m tonnes/year in 2020, according to ICIS Supply and Demand data.

The terminal, expected to reach full operations by the fourth quarter of 2020, should help ease US ethylene oversupply by connecting it to overseas demand.

Enterprise has designed the system to serve as an open market storage and trading hub for the ethylene industry through storage, connections to multiple ethylene pipelines and high-capacity export capabilities, it said.

GROWING US ETHYLENE PRODUCTION
“Because of abundant natural gas liquids thanks to the shale revolution, the US is now a global leader in ethylene production, with an unprecedented build-out of mostly ethane crackers along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, providing hundreds of thousands of jobs to local economies,” said AJ Teague, CEO of Enterprise’s general partner.

“Including a second wave of new petrochemical plants now being developed, production of ethylene is poised for continued growth and is expected to exceed 100bn lb/per year by 2025,” he said.

“We are very pleased to join forces with Navigator to bring this new terminal to fruition, which complements Enterprise’s integrated pipeline and storage network, including the development of open market hubs for ethylene and polymer grade propylene that help ensure price transparency, reliability and flexibility for petrochemical producers and consumers,” Teague added.

ADDITIONAL PROJECTS
In addition to the new ethylene export terminal and storage infrastructure, there are two projects Enterprise is developing to  extend its ethylene pipeline and logistics system further into South Texas, a leading growth area for new crackers and ethylene derivative plants, it said.

One project involves a 24-mile pipeline between Mont Belvieu and Bayport, Texas routed through Morgan’s Point, which is expected to begin service in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Furthermore, the company announced plans to build the 90-mile Baymark Pipeline from Bayport to Markham, Texas, that is also expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Both pipelines are supported by long-term customer commitments and will enable producers and consumers throughout Texas to access the Enterprise open market ethylene storage and trading hub, the company said.

Additional reporting by Michael Sims and Nel Weddle 

Ship image credit: Enterprise Products Partners