06.09.2016. OPIS reports that the first gas carrier to load ethane at Enterprise Products Partners’ new ethane export terminal at Morgan’s Point, Texas, was fully loaded and departed from Houston on 1 September.
Enterprise said that Intrepid, loaded with approximately 265,000 barrels of ethane, set sail from the facility en route to the Ineos facility at Rafnes in Norway. Morgan’s Point, which is the largest of its kind in the world, has a design loading capacity of 10,000 barrels per hour.
OPIS quoted the company as saying that the driving force behind development of the terminal is the growing international demand for US ethane from shale plays, which offers the global petrochemical industry a low-cost feedstock option and supply diversification. By providing producers with access to the export market, the Morgan’s Point terminal is also facilitating continued development of US energy reserves.
Supply for the new ethane export terminal is from Enterprise’s NGL fractionation and storage complex in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and transported through a new 18 mile, 24 ins pipeline that was finished in February this year, Enterprise said. In addition, the Mont Belvieu complex is connected to ethane production from the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions through the ATEX pipeline.
The cargo loading had been slow due to expected operational and logistics issues related to a facility start-up.

6th September 2016