HEP announces two major liquid handling projects in US
Howard Energy Partners (HEP) has begun construction on two major liquid handling facilities – the Live Oak Stabilizer, an off-spec liquids stabiliser facility near Three Rivers, Texas, and the Brownsville Liquids Terminal, a bulk liquid storage facility within the Port of Brownsville, Texas. Both projects are expected to be completed by mid-2014.
With a capacity of up to 10,000 barrels per day, the Live Oak Stabilizer will provide off-spec liquids stabilisation, and a firm field-level sales point and processing outlet for both on-spec and off-spec liquids out of the Eagle Ford shale play and other producing basins in the South Texas area. Off-spec liquids are produced liquids that do not meet market pipeline specifications.
The Live Oak Stabilizer will be equipped with six truck racks with direct access to a nearby highway to receive incoming, trucked liquids. The facility will have the ability to produce condensate with a Reid vapour pressure of 9-11 pounds per square inch, y-grade natural gas liquids and rich gas. It will feature access to multiple outlets for the produced condensate, as well as pipeline connections for the y-grade NGLs and rich gas. Located adjacent to HEP's Live Oak Railroad Park, the facility also creates potential opportunities to blend produced condensate with other crude products or ship it via rail to other markets.
HEP has confirmed agreements with Enbridge Liquids Transportation & Marketing (ELTM) for 50% of the capacity of the Live Oak Stabilizer. ELTM purchases on-spec and off-spec liquids and condensate in the Eagle Ford area and has a fleet of trucks and trailers to reliably transport Eagle Ford liquids and condensate to the new facility.
Located within the Port of Brownsville, in Foreign Trade Zone 62, the Brownsville Terminal will consist of 21 tanks providing a total of up to 225,000 barrels of bulk liquid storage for upstream, midstream, and downstream hydrocarbons, and other bulk liquids requiring custom terminal services. This automated terminal includes access to a Panamax-class dock with ocean-going vessel and inland barge capabilities, a three-bay truck rack with on-scale loading capabilities, an 11-railcar loading and unloading facility, steam heating, real-time product monitoring and control systems, and specialised infrastructure for commodity blending.
HEP is an independent midstream energy company, owning and operating 500 miles of natural gas pipelines, natural gas liquids processing plants, amine treating plants, a railroad park and other related midstream facilities in South Texas primarily serving the Olmos, Escondido, and Eagle Ford resource plays.
