More On That Report Of That Ethane Shipment -- Staggering -- January 20, 2021

See this recent post re: ethane exports. That post begins:

Ethane: largest single shipment of ethane heads to China after loading at US export facility. S&P Global Platts.Data points:

• 911,000 bbls of ethane
  
• VLEC Seri Everest on maiden voyage
• Panama Canal
• loaded at Energy Transfer's terminal in Nederland, TX
• VLEC: very large ethane carrier
• will reach destination by mid-February
• ET's Marcus Hook facility in Pennsylvania is also capable of handling VLECs

Now, this from a reader providing the significance of this article. I knew none of this and reinforces the importance of readers. Thank you very, very much.

From the reader who knows this industry very, very well:

I did a double take when you posted that story about the inaugural shipment from the Orbit Terminal on the maiden voyage of the Seri Everest. 

That ~900 thousand barrels capacity is almost four times larger than the initial 'Dragon Ships'  ethane carriers that were launched just five years ago.  

Prior to that 2016 lifting of ethane from Marcus Hook, there was virtually NO 'industry' of seaborne transport of ethane except for small, infrequent barge transfers in the Baltic region.

The explosive growth of both ethane and propane production from US shales has prompted ...

1. Big build out of new steam crackers and Propane Dehydrogenation  Units (PDHs) in India, Europe, and China to process ethane/propane as making products from these raw materials is MUCH cheaper than using naptha, the historical supply which is generally obtained from oil. 

2. An entirely new 'industry'  has emerged in the building and launching of ships designed for the express purpose of transporting liquified ethane and propane, something never before even contemplated.

There are now 'virtual pipelines'  ferrying these products to Indian, Chinese, and European plants. A huge  Propane Dehydrogenation Plant is opening next year in Belgium and a massive cracker/PDH complex  in Antwerp is set to come online in 2024.

US shale is expected to provide virtually all the raw products.

Amongst other ripple effects, the value of ethane and propane should continue to increase.

More on "Dragon Ships" here.  

This was from 2016: 

A new fleet of so-called dragon-class ships are creating a virtual pipeline across the Atlantic, carrying ethane, a derivative of natural gas and the basic building block of common plastics, from Houston to European petrochemical companies. The shipments, which began Sept. ... They also are shipping to Asia.

More at this post, and this was from June 15, 2015, suggesting just how old this story is and how I completely missed it. Link here.  

A major European petrochemical manufacturer is taking steps to begin importing ethane from the United States this year. Over the past several years, ethane production in the United States has been increasing, from 869,000 barrels per day (b/d) 2010, to 1,081,000 b/d in March 2015. In addition, U.S. ethane prices have declined compared with other fuels. In recent years, the growth in production has spurred ethane pipeline exports to Canada and investment in the domestic petrochemical industry. And now, one of Europe’s largest petrochemical companies, Ineos Olefins & Polymers, headquartered in Switzerland, is close to completing the first transoceanic ethane shipment from the United States.

On May 28, Ineos Olefins & Polymers Europe, with ethylene cracker operations in Scotland and Norway, and its partner Evergas, a company specializing in seaborne petrochemical and liquid gas transportation, took delivery of the first ship in a planned eight-vessel fleet of Large Gas Carriers (LGC). These vessels will primarily transport ethane produced in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays to Europe from the Mariner East project/Marcus Hook Industrial Center in Pennsylvania, under a 15-year contract between Ineos-Europe and Evergas. Though designed and constructed for transoceanic shipment of ethane, the ships will be capable of transporting other hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL), as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

These ships measure 591 feet (ft) long, 87 ft wide, and have a draft of 30 ft. They are the largest ethane carriers in production to date and have a rated capacity of 971,162 cubic feet, or 175,000 barrels. These ships are designated as the Dragon class, and are identified by Evergas as among the most technologically advanced liquid gas carriers on the seas today. Manufactured by Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering, a shipyard in China, these LGCs use LNG for propulsion and cargo handling, systems supplied by Wärtsilä Marine, a Finnish manufacturer, to optimize performance for ship’s systems and cargo management.

Ineos Europe was the first European company to contract for ethane feedstock from the United States. In 2012, Ineos contracted with a Marcellus-based supplier, Range Resources, for ethane, and with Sunoco Logistics for the associated transportation capacity on the Mariner East project that would move the ethane east from the Appalachian Basin for transatlantic shipment. As an anchor shipper, Range Resources has firm transportation of 40,000 b/d (20,000 b/d ethane, 20,000 b/d propane), and will have storage capability for both ethane and propane at Marcus Hook.

When I see those numbers I wonder if the writer of the original got "cubic feet" mixed up with bbls.  

More from hydrocarbonprocessing:

More than 911,000 barrels of ethane bound for Lianyungang, China on world’s largest VLEC 1/20/2021 Dallas-based Energy Transfer LP announced the first Very Large Ethane Carrier (VLEC) has been loaded under its previously announced joint venture with Satellite Petrochemical USA Corp., Orbit Gulf Coast NGL Exports, LLC (Orbit).

The Seri Everest, the world’s largest VLEC, departed from Orbit’s newly constructed export facilities at Energy Transfer’s Nederland Terminal in Nederland, Texas, on Jan. 17, 2021, to complete its maiden voyage. The vessel was loaded with more than 911,000 barrels of ethane destined for Satellite’s Lianyungang ethane cracker in northeastern Jiangsu Province, China, the largest single shipment of ethane to date. Its anticipated arrival at Lianyungang Port is mid-February 2021.

Orbit’s export terminal at Nederland, one of only three U.S. ethane export terminals, includes a 1.2 million barrel ethane storage tank and an estimated 180,000 barrel per day ethane refrigeration facility. Energy Transfer’s Marcus Hook facility in Pennsylvania is also capable of handling VLECs. The combination of the two terminals represent over 50 percent of the U.S. waterborne export capacity. Under the joint venture with Satellite, Energy Transfer is the operator of Orbit’s assets, which also include a newly constructed 20-inch pipeline originating at Energy Transfer’s fractionation and storage facilities in Mont Belvieu, Texas, for ethane deliveries to the Nederland export terminal as well as domestic markets in the region. In association with Orbit, Energy Transfer also completed its build-out of wholly owned infrastructure at Mont Belvieu to supply ethane to Orbit’s pipeline, and at Nederland to load the ethane onto VLECs. Under separate agreements, Energy Transfer will provide Satellite with approximately 150,000 barrels per day of ethane under a long-term, demand-based agreement, along with storage and marketing services.

Energy Transfer (via Sunoco Logistics) was the first company to export ethane out of the U.S. by pipeline. Its Mariner West pipeline first transported ethane to Canada in January of 2013. Energy Transfer was also the first to export ethane out of the U.S. via ship in March of 2016 from its Marcus Hook Terminal in Pennsylvania.