The South Texas NGL market has always been a world of its own, a self-contained liquids ecosystem running from Brownsville to Markham, a distant 200 miles from the NGL epicenter at Mont Belvieu. In recent years, however, the South Texas market has been undergoing radical change, first with the emergence of the Eagle Ford basin, then with the onslaught of Permian production and, most recently, with the aptly named EPIC NGL Pipeline and new fractionation capacity in greater Corpus Christi. More supply and demand are on the way, with new pipes, exports, and the largest ethane-only petrochemical plant in the world under construction. And with these developments, a strategy by several large, well-financed players has emerged – to develop an NGL storage and fractionation hub competitive with Month Belvieu. Today, we begin a series to examine the South Texas NGL market and how changes there will impact flows, utilization, and pricing across North America and beyond.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve made mention of the upcoming changes in the Corpus Christi-area NGL market. In Flick of the Switch, we mapped out the route of EPIC Midstream’s new, 24-inch-diameter y-grade NGL pipeline from the Permian to Corpus, mostly focusing on EPIC’s decision to initially put the pipe in crude service before completing its dedicated crude pipeline. And we referenced the company’s new, 100-Mb/d fractionation plant in Robstown, TX, about 20 miles due west of Corpus. In Happy Together, we explored some of the capacity contracts getting done on EPIC’s NGL pipe. But up until this point, we’ve never really focused on what a big deal EPIC’s projects are for the NGL market in and around Corpus Christi.
In fact, the EPIC pipeline and fractionator(s) are very big deals, and last month the whole EPIC NGL strategy got even bigger. Not only did EPIC announce the startup of the new Robstown fractionator, there was a whirlwind of joint ventures, business alliances, and transportation contracts announced involving EPIC, MPLX, Phillips 66, WhiteWater Midstream, and West Texas Gas. We’ll get into the nitty-gritty for what all these deals will mean for the Corpus market later in this blog series. But for now, the takeaway is that several high-profile and well-financed players are throwing their support behind an extended NGL storage and fractionation hub designed to provide a competitive alternative to Mont Belvieu for NGL producers and gas processors. Let’s just call it the MBA strategy — Mont Belvieu Alternative — for short.
It’s hard to grasp the significance of these developments unless you have a perspective on how the South Texas/Corpus market has evolved over the decades. So that’s where we’ll start, perhaps lingering over the fascinating history of this market a bit more than absolutely necessary.
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About the song
"I'm Gonna Find Another You" was written by John Mayer, and appears as the 12th song on Mayer's third studio album, Continuum. The song is a blues ballad featuring Mayer's vocals and electric guitar accentuated by a great Memphis horn arrangement by Willie and Boo Mitchell. Personnel on the record were: John Mayer (vocals, guitar), Pino Palladino (bass), Steve Jordan (drums), Ricky Peterson (keyboards), and Willie Mitchell, Boo Mitchell, and Lester Snell (horn arrangements).
Continuum was recorded between January 2005 and July 2006 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, Royal Studios in Memphis, and Right Track/Sound on Sound in New York City. Produced by Steve Jordan and John Mayer, the album incorporated blues and soul music more heavily into Meyer's music than his previous two pop-oriented albums had. Released in September 2006, the LP went to #1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, and #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Five singles were released from the album. Continuum won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 49th Grammy Awards in February 2007. The LP has been certified 4X Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
John Mayer is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He has released seven studio albums, seven live albums, three compilation albums, five EPs, and 24 singles. He has won seven Grammy Awards, three ASCAP Awards, and one MTV Video Music Award. Mayer still records and tours. He is also the host of an Instagram show called Current Mood. Mayer occasionally plays with the band Dead & Company, featuring former members of the Grateful Dead, and is an avid collector of watches.
Comments
Susan,
Wow! Fantastic article. I learned a lot. MBA!?! Will Corpus knock off Belvieu? Can't wait to read the entire series and see how things turn out.
I know the Corpus port is always bragging about their capacity and closeness to deep water in the Gulf. Should be an interesting battle.
Congrats on your retirement.
Clif Linton