Phillips 66 has begun construction on the first phase of its 6.6mn bl/month LPG export facility at the company's existing marine terminal at Freeport, Texas.
The export facility, which is expected to handle 12 VLGCs monthly, will be supplied with LPG from the Mont Belvieu, Texas, area and from Phillps 66's new 100,000 b/d fractionator that is nestled within its Sweeny, Texas, refining complex. The fractionator is expected to start up by the second half of 2015.
Phillips 66 does not plan to export ethane from its new facility, despite talk among major NGL players looking to export the petrochemical feedstock, Phillips 66's chief executive Greg Garland said today at the terminal's groundbreaking.
Phillips 66 did look into ethane exports, but domestic demand is firm enough for the midstream company to not go through with that project, he said. Phillips 66 has already sold a bulk of the volumes that will be coming off of fractionator to petrochemical customers.
Garland said Phillips 66 will likely export condensate, so constructing a condensate splitter is still on the table for the company.
"We will be exporting natural gasoline, so in a way we will be exporting condensate," Garland said.
Phillips 66 expects to start loading LPG, with a total capacity to load 36,000 bl per hour, by mid-2016. Both the new export facility and the Sweeny fractionator projects will include the constructions of NGL storage and pipelines.
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