Enterprise Products Partners operating eighth NGL fractionator

Enterprise Products Partners’ eighth natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionator at its Mont Belvieu, Texas, complex is now operational, the company announced. The new unit, which has the capability to fractionate up to 85,000 barrels per day (bpd), increases total fractionation capacity at the company’s Mont Belvieu facility to about 655,000 bpd. The fractionator will accommodate increasing NGL production from domestic shale plays, including the Eagle Ford in south Texas, and other basins in the Rocky Mountain and mid-continent regions. Rising NGL production from the shale plays continues to provide a low-cost feedstock advantage for the global petrochemical industry, which currently favors natural gas-derived feedstock over more expensive crude oil-based derivatives, the company says. Enterprise now has more than 1 million bpd of total NGL fractionation capacity. Fractionators seven and eight were constructed as part of a joint venture with Western Gas Partners LP, an affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.