http://www.ohio.com/business/two-companies-planning-lpg-terminal-on...

Two companies involved in a new 1,153-mile pipeline for natural gas liquids from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have bigger plans: for an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) export terminal on the Gulf Coast.

Williams of Tulsa, Okla., and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP of Houston on Tuesday announced they have executed joint venture agreements to continue developing a liquefied petroleum gas facility near Lake Charles, La.

The proposed Moss Lake LPG Terminal would serve tanker ships transporting LPG to overseas markets.

The terminal is being designed to store 900,000 barrels of fully refrigerated propane and butane. It could load 25,000 barrels per hour.

Williams and Boardwalk are currently working with a number of parties to reserve capacity at the terminal.

The terminal will, if completed, facilitate the export of a portion of the propane and butane components of the natural gas liquids transported on the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline and separated at the Moss Lake fractionation plant, both of which are also being developed by the two companies.

The proposed facilities will “offer our customers access to attractive global markets for propane and butane,” said Stan Horton, president and chief executive officer of Boardwalk.

The projects could be operating by late 2015, the companies said.

The Utica shale in eastern Ohio is very rich in natural gas liquids: ethane, butane and propane.

The pipeline and the fractionation plant where the liquids will be separated and the overseas terminal are subject to execution of customer contracts sufficient to support the project and the companies getting all necessary approvals, the two firms said in a statement.

The pipeline will include new and existing pipelines. The new 500-mile pipeline across Ohio and Kentucky will connect with an existing pipeline in western Kentucky. That 623-mile-long line consists of three parallel lines from Kentucky to Eunice, La. A portion of that line will be converted from natural gas to liquid service. By combining new construction with an existing pipeline, the two companies said the pipeline should be in service sooner than other options.