June 2013, Vol. 240, No. 6

Projects

Enterprise To Expand Storage/Distribution Infrastructure

Enterprise Products Partners plans to expand its crude oil storage and distribution infrastructure serving the Southeast Texas refinery market. The expansion will be completed in phases with final completion expected late next year.

Upon completion, Enterprise will be positioned to provide refiners with access to an integrated system offering supply diversification, significant storage capacity and a high-capacity distribution system that will be connected to Southeast Texas refineries having an aggregate capacity of 3.6 MMbpd. Enterprise’s Crude Oil Houston (ECHO) storage facility, which will be expanded to more than 6 MMbbls of capacity, will have access to Enterprise’s marine terminal at Morgan’s Point on the Houston Ship Channel.

According to a company spokesperson, these refineries have been primarily supplied by waterborne imports of crude oil. With the success of North American producers, crude oil from the Eagle Ford, Permian, Midcontinent, Bakken plays and Canada are flowing into Southeast Texas and displacing the waterborne crude oil imports. As production from these regions grows, there will be a significant increase in crude oil bound for the Gulf Coast market, which lacks sufficient storage and has a fractured and constrained distribution system to handle these varying grades of crude oil.

This expansion includes an additional 4 MMbbls of new crude oil storage capacity at Enterprise’s ECHO and Bertron facilities and 55 miles of 24-inch and 36-inch pipeline to connect ECHO with the major refineries in the Southeast Texas market.