Enterprise, Navigator Begin Service on Houston Ship Channel Ethylene Storage Tank
Enterprise Products Partners LP and Navigator Holdings Ltd. announced Dec. 29 that service has begun on a new 30,000-ton refrigerated ethylene storage tank at the ethylene export terminal, which is owned 50/50 by affiliates of the two companies.
Navigator Atlas, a 21,000 cubic meter ethylene gas carrier, became the first vessel to use the new service when it was loaded at the facility located in Morgan’s Point, Texas, along the Houston Ship Channel, on Dec. 23, 2020. The tank will facilitate faster loading, increasing efficiency for the terminal’s customers and enabling the terminal to reach an annual nameplate export capacity of 1 million tons per year.
“Our fully commissioned Morgan’s Point ethylene export facility is the largest and most reliable supply source for waterborne ethylene in the world,” said A.J. “Jim” Teague, co-chief executive officer of Enterprise’s general partner. “The terminal is backed by the supply of the entire U.S. Gulf Coast via our growing ethylene midstream services, which include our open access storage and market hub in Mont Belvieu. Our ethylene export, storage, and transportation services highlight our vision to provide midstream services for the petrochemicals industry that allow our customers to focus on their unique competitive advantages in the U.S. and in growing international markets.”
The new ethylene storage tank is supplied by a 600-million-lb ethylene storage cavern at Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu, Texas complex.
“The commissioning of the Morgan’s Point terminal in the face of a yearlong pandemic is testimony to the high-quality talent and dedicated team assigned to this project. We congratulate all employees and third-party contractors for the superb job in completing the export terminal on time and under budget,” said David Butters, executive chairman of Navigator Holdings. “We expect the terminal to operate at capacity, utilizing Enterprise’s vast interconnected ethylene platform, and to create strong demand for Navigator’s fleet of specialized ethylene capable vessels.”
Enterprise also has the capability to further expand its underground caverns to accommodate additional ethylene storage. Ethylene is the primary feedstock for a wide variety of consumer products, including cell phones and computer parts, food packaging, apparel, textiles and personal protective equipment.
Enterprise Products Partners is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals. Our services include: natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage; NGL transportation, fractionation, storage and export and import terminals; crude oil gathering, transportation, storage and export and import terminals; petrochemical and refined products transportation, storage, export and import terminals and related services; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems. The partnership’s assets include approximately 50,000 miles of pipelines; 260 million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals; and 14 Bcf of natural gas storage capacity.
Navigator Holdings is the owner and operator of the world’s largest fleet of handysize liquefied gas carriers and a global leader in the seaborne transportation of petrochemical gases, such as ethylene and ethane, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and ammonia. We play a vital role in the liquefied gas supply chain for energy companies, industrial consumers and commodity traders, with our sophisticated vessels providing an efficient and reliable ‘floating pipeline’ between the parties.
Tags: Enterprise Products Partners, ethylene storage, Navigator Holdings Ltd
Comments are closed here.