Wow, It Just Never Quits -- June 4, 2016

Updates

July 2, 2016: US exports of propane will soon exceed those of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Nigeria combined.

July 1, 2016: Chile just gave Cheniere the green light to build another LNG plant. Bloomberg reports:

Chile this week gave Cheniere Energy Inc. a good reason to build another plant to export U.S. natural gas by clearing the final environmental hurdle for a proposed floating import terminal.

Approval was granted for the Penco Lirquen LNG project, which comprises a floating storage and regasification unit.

The 1,200-megawatt Central El Campesino power plant, which will be supplied by the gas import vessel, “should be approved” in July or August.

This approval marks a milestone for Cheniere, which has a 20-year agreement to supply gas to the power plant. Cheniere is also a co-owner of the LNG import project with Biobiogenera, according to Hoegh LNG Holdings Ltd., which is building the terminal.

Success in Chile may help Cheniere find other new buyers needed to sign long-term contracts before it makes a decision on an additional liquefaction plant at its Corpus Christi facility in Texas, according to Energy Aspects Ltd. and Hennessy Funds. 

June 21, 2016: Zacks is reporting -- 

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. intends to build a new cryogenic natural gas processing facility and related natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline infrastructure. This is intended to support the continued growth of NGL-rich natural gas production in the Delaware Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. 

The new plant is projected to have a nameplate capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) and the capability to extract over 40,000 barrels per day of NGL.

Notably, this is the third cryogenic natural gas processing plant announced by Enterprise Products Partners in less than 24 months.

The first cryogenic plant – the South Eddy facility – was brought online earlier this year. The second one is the partnership’s joint venture processing plant at Waha, which is expected to be commissioned in the third quarter of 2016. The partnership expects these efforts to augment the processing capacity in the Delaware Basin to 800 MMcf/d from 40 MMcf/d in 2012.

June 8, 2016: Shell plans to go ahead with huge petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania.
 

Original Post

 

The headline stories seem to be all about keystoned pipelines and derailed CBR but the real business of the oil and gas business keeps going on and on in the US. Another example: LyondellBasell plans third-quarter startup for Corpus Christi ethylene expansion.

LyondellBasell has entered the final phase of construction on an 800 million-lb/year ethylene expansion project currently under way at its complex in Corpus Christi, Tex. (OGJ Online, July 1, 2013).

Final construction work on the major expansion project will occur over the next few months. Once completed, the expansion will increase ethylene capacity at the Corpus Christi plant by 50% from its current production.

The Corpus Christi expansion comes as part of a multiyear growth program the company launched in 2012 that focuses on debottlenecks and cost-effective expansions at its existing plants, all of which were benefitting from rising North American shale gas production.

Alongside the expansion at Corpus Christi, the program also included ethylene expansion projects at LyondellBasell’s La Porte, TX, and Channelview, TX, plants (OGJ Online, May 2, 2014).

The 21st century will be known as the "Century of Energy" and the US will be at the forefront.  There's no stopping it.

800-million lb/year = 2.2 million lbs/day.

From icis, January 16, 2014: An avalanche of petrochemical and polymers capacity is coming in the US, with construction starting in 2014.

The US shale gas boom has brought a renewed competitive advantage to the sector, spurring plans for additional new crackers.

There are now plans announced for a total of 10 new ethane crackers in the US – eight on the US Gulf Coast, and two in the northeast US. This represents around 12.5m tonnes/year of ethylene capacity, according to an analysis by ICIS.

Seven projects are beyond the feasibility stage and six companies have announced capacity figures for seven crackers.

More background here.

Look what "they" were planning back in April, 2013: about 5 new world-class crackers. In the story posted today, the number is up to 10. 

12.5 million tons/10 = 1.25 million tons/year/plant on average.

1.25 x 2,200 lbs = 2,759 million lbs/year on average vs 800-million lb expansion project.

This sounds about right. A press release suggested that three expansions (each about 800-million lbs) would add up to a single new plant, and 3 x 800 = 2,400, which is very close to 2,800 million lbs. So it looks like, in a 30-second soundbite, the average ethylene plant now being constructed in the US has capacity of about 2,800 million lbs/year. Or 3 billion lbs/year, I guess.