NGL Fractionation
NGL fractionation facilities process mixed NGL streams into purity NGL products: ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane and natural gasoline. The three primary sources of mixed NGLs fractionated in the United States are domestic natural gas processing plants, crude oil refineries and imports of butane and propane mixtures. The mixed NGLs sourced from domestic natural gas processing plants and crude oil refineries to our NGL fractionation facilities are typically transported by NGL pipelines and, to a lesser extent, by railcar and truck.
Enterprise owns interests in 11 NGL fractionation facilities located in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado and Ohio. These facilities are linked by pipelines to some of the largest consumers of NGLs in the United States and to international markets through the partnership's import/export terminal on the Houston Ship Channel. Generally, the partnership receives a fee on the volume of NGLs fractionated.
Our Mont Belvieu NGL fractionation facility is a key hub of the domestic and international NGL industry with a gross capacity of 305 MBPD. This facility fractionates mixed NGLs from several major NGL supply basins in North America including the Mid-Continent, Permian Basin, San Juan Basin, Rocky Mountains, East Texas and the Gulf Coast.
Our Norco NGL fractionation facility, located near New Orleans, Louisiana, has a gross capacity of 75 MBPD. This facility receives mixed NGLs via pipeline from refineries and natural gas processing plants located in southern Louisiana and along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast.
The Promix fractionation facility is located in Napoleonville, Louisiana and has the capacity to fractionate up to 145 MBPD of mixed NGLs from natural gas processing plants in southern Louisiana and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
In November 2010, we began operations on a fourth 75 MBPD NGL fractionator at our Mont Belvieu facility that provides us with additional capacity to process growing NGL volumes from producing areas in the Rockies, the Barnett Shale and the emerging Eagle Ford Shale supply basin in South Texas. This project increased our gross NGL fractionation capacity at Mont Belvieu to approximately 305 MBPD. To accommodate expected volumes from the Eagle Ford Shale and other producing regions, we are constructing a fifth NGL fractionator with a capacity of 75 MBPD that is expected to be completed by January 2012.
| Facility | Ownership Interest | Gross Capacity (MBPD) | Net Capacity (MBPD) (1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mont Belvieu | 75% (2) | 305 | 253 |
| Shoup and Armstrong (3) | 100% | 97 | 97 |
| Hobbs | 100% | 75 | 75 |
| Promix | 50% (4) | 145 | 73 |
| Norco | 100% | 75 | 75 |
| BRF | 32.2% (5) | 60 | 19 |
| Tebone | 52.5% (2) | 30 | 12 |
| Other (6) | 100% | 12 | 12 |
| Total Capacity | 802 | 619 |
(1)The approximate net NGL fractionation capacity does not necessarily correspond to our ownership interest in each facility. It is based on a variety of factors such as volumes processed at the facility and ownership interest in the facility.
(2) Ownership interests presented reflect direct consolidated interests in each facility.
(3) Reflects consolidated ownership of these fractionators by EPO (34%) and Duncan Energy Partners (66%).
(4) Our ownership interest in this facility is held indirectly through our equity method investment in Promix.
(5) Our ownership interest in this facility is held indirectly through our equity method investment in Baton Rouge Fractionators ("BRF").
(6) Consists of two NGL fractionation facilities located in northeast Colorado and a fractionation facility located near Todhunter, Ohio.