HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 7, 2013--
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) today announced that it
has commenced operations at its expanded export facility, increasing the
partnership’s capability to load propane, butane and isobutane (“LPG”).
Located on the Houston Ship Channel, the marine terminal complex is
owned by Oiltanking Partners, L.P. (“Oiltanking”, NYSE: OILT).
Enterprise also announced that the partnership and Oiltanking have
significantly expanded the scope of their long-term terminal service
agreement which runs through 2026. This relationship dates back to the
early 1980s.
The expansion of Enterprise’s export facility increases the
partnership’s capacity to load fully refrigerated LPGs. The loading
capacity for low-ethane propane increases from the current rate of
almost 4 million barrels per month to approximately 7.5 million barrels
per month. This expanded facility provides customers with improved
access to export domestically produced LPGs to growing international
markets.
The amended terminal service agreement with Oiltanking will provide
Enterprise additional operating flexibility including an increase in the
number of docks available to load LPG export vessels. Access to these
additional docks would support further expansions of Enterprise’s LPG
export facility. Enterprise is currently evaluating an additional
expansion that would increase the partnership’s propane export capacity
up to 10 million barrels per month and could be in service as soon as
the beginning of 2015.
“We are pleased to complete the expansion of our LPG export facility and
to enhance our relationship with Oiltanking,” said A.J. “Jim” Teague,
chief operating officer of Enterprise’s general partner. “There is
strong international demand for U.S. propane and we continue to receive
strong indications of interest for long-term commitments from customers
that could underwrite another expansion of the export facility.”
The combination of the expanded LPG export facility and the
partnership’s Mont Belvieu NGL fractionation and storage complex to
which it is connected, uniquely positions Enterprise to address both the
supply and demand side of the equation. Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu
complex is connected to purity NGL pipelines that deliver from
fractionators around the country, as well as many of the pipelines that
transport mixed NGLs from the majority of the liquids-rich production
areas in the United States. Two new NGL fractionators are currently
under construction at Mont Belvieu that are expected to increase
capacity to separate these mixed NGLs from approximately 485,000 barrels
per day (“BPD”) to more than 650,000 BPD by the end of the fourth
quarter 2013. Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu complex is also the largest NGL
storage facility in North America, with more than 100 million barrels of
capacity and has the capability to deliver LPGs to the partnership’s
export facility at the high flow rates necessary to meet the loading
requirements of international customers.
Complementing the partnership’s export dock initiative is an expansion
of the Panama Canal. Scheduled to begin operations in the second quarter
of 2015, the project should provide Enterprise customers with greater
flexibility, including improved access to Asian markets.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded
partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy
services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil,
refined products and petrochemicals. Our services include: natural gas
gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage; NGL
transportation, fractionation, storage, and import and export terminals;
crude oil and refined products transportation, storage and terminals;
offshore production platforms; petrochemical transportation and
services; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily
on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems and in the
Gulf of Mexico. The partnership’s assets include approximately 50,000
miles of onshore and offshore pipelines; 200 million barrels of storage
capacity for NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals; and
14 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” as defined
by the Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements, other than
statements of historical fact, included herein that address activities,
events, developments or transactions that Enterprise expects, believes
or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including anticipated
benefits and other aspects of such activities, events, developments or
transactions, are forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that
may cause actual results to differ materially, including required
approvals by regulatory agencies, the possibility that the anticipated
benefits from such activities, events, developments or transactions
cannot be fully realized, the possibility that costs or difficulties
related thereto will be greater than expected, the impact of competition
and other risk factors included in the reports filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission by Enterprise. Readers are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak
only as of their dates. Except as required by law, Enterprise
does not intend to update or revise its forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Enterprise Products Partners L.P.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P.
Randy Burkhalter,
713-381-6812 or 866-230-0745
Investor Relations
or
Rick
Rainey, 713-381-3635
Media Relations