Gulf Coast booming with propane, butane and now LNG exports

The Houston Ship Channel and the Gulf Coast region are increasingly exporting almost every type of product derived from shale natural gas and oil, energy executives said Wednesday.

Speaking at the two-day Gulf Coast Industry Forum — previously called the Petrochemical Maritime Outlook Conference — in Pasadena, top executives highlighted how the Port of Houston is the only major port in the U.S. to export more than it imports.

The region is shipping out crude oil, liquefied natural gas, ethane, propane, butane, refined fuels, petrochemicals and plastics to power the developing world.

The growth has helped make Houston’s Enterprise Products Partners the world’s largest exporter of propane. The company also exports butane and will ship out ethane when it completes the world’s largest ethane export facility along the Houston Ship Channel. Ethane is the primary feed stock for the booming petrochemical sector; liquefied petroleum gases like propane and butane are used for heating, cooking and transportation.

“I would’ve never thought 10 years ago that Enterprise would be a bigger exporter of LPG than Saudi Arabia,” said Anatol Feygin, senior vice president of strategy for Cheniere Energy.

Enterprise also has exported more crude oil than any other company since Congress lifted the decadeslong ban on exports in December.

“We had a vision five years ago watching the shale revolution that the U.S. was going to be long on hydrocarbons,” said Enterprise Executive Vice President Bill Ordemann, citing relatively stagnant U.S. consumption. “We felt like a vibrant export market was going to be necessary.”

Enterprise, however, doesn’t deal in LNG. That’s where companies like Cheniere and Houston-based Freeport LNG come into play.

Cheniere’s Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana exported America’s first load of LNG this year. Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG export terminal is under construction and a terminal in Freeport is scheduled to be completed in 2018.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/08/24/gulf-coast-booming-with-propane-...

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Permalink Reply by Barry D on August 25, 2016 at 3:37pm

Kiss this all goodbye if Hillary is elected.

She has taken far too much money from the Saudis to allow this to continue.

Permalink Reply by Bluflame on August 25, 2016 at 10:10pm
M12,
Thanks for the post. This is only part of the story which effects Utica/ Marcellus wet gas. Add to that expanded ethane shipments to Sarnia, Ontario; new ethane cracker(s) in PA and hopefully Ohio, new LNG export facility in Cove Pt.,MD; ethane exports from Marcus Hook, PA. (Philadelphia); new pipelines to service these facilities. It's enough to get an optimist(such as me) excited! Did I mention the new Panama Canal expansion??
BluFlame
Permalink Reply by Coffeeguyzz on August 26, 2016 at 2:28pm
You guys are 100% correct, but you need to keep the pressure on to facilitate the infrastructure build out..
There is a fiercely committed group, backed by deep pocketed donors both foreign and domestic, that will continue to stifle, choke off or actually terminate - via regulations - this burgeoning hydrocarbon industry.
Look at what is currently happening with the Dakota Access Pipeline - where a pipeline already under construction and NOT crossing tribal grounds - can be imperiled by opponents, aided by a sympathetic media

Continuing to communicate your positive views on this build out is more important now than ever in the Northeast.
Permalink Reply by Bluflame on August 27, 2016 at 12:25am
In my part of the world (NW Ohio), the biggest deterrent to pipeline build-outs are local landowners who do not want the pipelines on their property. During a long bike ride a week ago, I saw numerous negative signs along a prospective pipeline route to Canada. "We have met the enemy, and they is us"
BluFlame

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