Enterprise to expand, extend Bahia NGL pipeline

Enterprise Products Partners executed an agreement with ExxonMobil, which will acquire a 40 percent undivided joint interest in Enterprise’s Bahia natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected by early 2026.

The 550-mile Bahia pipeline, which has begun commissioning activities and will begin commercial operations soon after, will have an initial capacity to transport 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of NGLs from the Midland and Delaware basins of West Texas to Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu fractionation complex.

Upon closing of the transaction, Enterprise and ExxonMobil plan to increase Bahia’s capacity to 1 million bpd by adding incremental pumping capacity and constructing a 92-mile extension of Bahia to ExxonMobil’s Cowboy natural gas processing plant in Eddy County, New Mexico. The extension will also connect to multiple Enterprise-owned processing facilities in the Delaware Basin. The expansion and extension are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2027, with ExxonMobil’s interest referred to as the “Cowboy Connector.” Enterprise will serve as operator of the combined system.

“As the ratio of natural gas and NGL production to crude oil production continues to increase in the Permian, the Bahia pipeline will be an essential artery to deliver mixed NGLs to the fractionation complex in Mont Belvieu,” says A.J. “Jim” Teague, co-CEO of Enterprise’s general partner. “From 2024 to 2030, NGL production in the Permian Basin is expected to increase by over 30 percent. This expansion supports this growth by providing critical takeaway capacity for the basin.”

Enterprise Products Partners is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals.

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