It finally happened. And it’s a very big deal for MPLX and ONEOK, both of which have been working for years to become full-fledged members of the elite “NGL wellhead-to-water club.” But the companies’ announcements that MPLX will build two fractionators at the terminus of a new NGL pipeline from Sweeny to Texas City and that ONEOK and MPLX will joint build a new LPG export terminal nearby (and a new purity-product pipeline between Mont Belvieu and the terminal) doesn’t just fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle they’ve been assembling. The plans also will give Gulf Coast LPG exporters the additional capacity they desperately need and — no small thing — create another fractionation hub. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss what MPLX and ONEOK are planning and why it matters.
The RBN Energy U.S. Propane Infrastructure map provides a comprehensive view of the propane supply network in the lower 48 states.
In a Drill Down Report in late 2023, we described the NGL networks owned and operated by the four large midstream companies (Enterprise Products Partners, Energy Transfer, Targa Resources and Phillips 66) that currently provide wellhead-to-water services — everything from gas processing plants in the Permian and other plays to long-haul NGL pipelines to the Gulf Coast to fractionation plants (almost all of them in Mont Belvieu) and export terminals for purity NGL products. As we said then, “That start-to-finish management of the NGL stream provides a number of important benefits — chief among them, the ability to operate with extraordinary efficiency, collect fees from shippers each step of the way, and feed pipelines, fractionators, storage and export terminals along the network’s value chain.”
In several RBN blogs and Analyst Insights since then, we’ve discussed the need for more NGL export capacity and plans for projects to meet those needs. We've also looked at plans by ONEOK and MPLX to expand the NGL side of their businesses, many of them aimed at enhancing the companies’ operational optionality and wellhead-to-water capabilities.
Two recent ONEOK deals are most relevant to our discussion today. First, in June 2024, ONEOK closed on the purchase of 450 miles of NGL and other liquids pipelines in the greater Houston area from Easton Energy and announced plans to connect the NGL system to ONEOK’s Mont Belvieu assets. Then, in a two-step deal — the latter part of which closed on January 30 — ONEOK acquired EnLink Midstream, which, among other things, gave ONEOK 1.6 Bcf/d of gas processing capacity in the Permian. ONEOK already owned a host of valuable NGL-related assets, including several gas processing plants in the Rockies and Midcontinent; a handful of NGL pipeline systems (West Texas NGL, Elk Creek and Bakken NGL among them); more than 1 MMb/d of fractionation capacity (more than two-thirds of it in Mont Belvieu, where it owns six fracs); and 30 MMbbl of salt-cavern storage capacity for NGLs.
Figure 1. BANGL Pipeline, Sweeny and Texas City Developments. Source: RBN
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About the song
“At Last” was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the 1941 musical film, Sun Valley Serenade. Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded an instrumental version that appears in the film. Miller recorded the song several times and his 1942 version, featuring Ray Eberle on vocals, reached #2 on the Billboard Pop Music Singles chart. Etta James version appears as the second song on side two of her 1960 debut album of the same name. Released as a single in November 1960, it went to #2 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart and #47 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles charts. Her version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2009. Personnel on the record were: Etta James (vocals) and uncredited orchestra musicians conducted by Riley Hampton. Celine Dion, Joni Mitchell, Christina Aguilera, and Beyonce have covered the song.
The album At Last was recorded in Chicago between January and October 1960 and produced by Phil and Leonard Chess. The Chesses felt that James’s voice had pop crossover potential, so they accompanied her with an orchestra for most of the tracks on the album. It was released in November 1960 and went to #12 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Four singles were released from the LP.
Etta James (Jamesetta Hawkins) was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She released 30 studio albums, three live albums, six compilation albums and 58 singles. She received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Award in 1989 and the NAACP Image-Hall of Fame Award in 1990. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 and a Billboard R&B Founder Award in 2006. James died in January 2012 in Riverside, CA, at the age of 73. At the request of Etta James’s family, Christina Aguilera sang “At Last” at her funeral.
