Here, There and Everywhere - U.S. Exports Transform NGL Markets

U.S. propane is fanning out across the planet, with export volumes now triple those of any other country. The global LPG market today is dominated by cargoes shipped from U.S. ports. Buyers from Mexico to South Korea can’t make a move without considering conditions on the Houston Ship Channel or pipeline constraints in Pennsylvania. But an interconnected market is a two-way street. U.S. propane prices are now influenced more by the weather in Europe and Asia than by the weather in Wisconsin or New Hampshire. And it’s not only propane. All NGLs are experiencing growth in U.S. export volumes, with huge implications for infrastructure, capacity constraints and, of course, prices. Today, we preview the deep dive into these issues on the agenda at RBN’s upcoming xPortCon conference.

NGL exports have been a frequent topic in the RBN blogosphere, with our most recent series on the subject titled Between Mont Belvieu and the Deep Blue Sea posted earlier this year. In those blogs, we discussed the terminals handling most of the export volumes, the largest destination markets for U.S. NGL exports, and the dock capacity expansions that are being developed. We also considered the impact of all of these exports on the U.S. domestic NGL market in Complicated - Petchem Demand, Exports. But these blogs only scratched the surface of what’s going on with U.S. NGL exports.

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Figure 1 puts the magnitude of U.S. LPG (propane and butane) exports to overseas markets in perspective. From less than 100 Mb/d 10 years ago (for those of you that think in metric, that’s about 3 million metric tons per annum, or MMtpa), U.S. exports have soared to more than 1.1 MMb/d (about 33 MMtpa) — an 11-fold increase. In recent years, 60% of LPG exports have been sourced from the two docks located on the Houston Ship Channel: Enterprise and Targa. Another 30% came from two other Gulf Coast facilities: Energy Transfer at Nederland and Phillips 66 at Freeport. Only about 5% moved out of the Energy Transfer dock at Marcus Hook, PA, but that is changing fast. With the completion of the Mariner East 2 pipeline in December 2018 (see It's All Wrong, But It's Alright), Marcus Hook export volumes have been hitting all-time records in early 2019.

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About the song

“Here, There and Everywhere” was written and sung by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney. It appears as the fifth song on side one of The Beatles’ seventh studio album, Revolver. McCartney said the inspiration for this song came from listening to Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows,” which appeared on The Beach Boys’ masterpiece album, Pet Sounds. Ironically (or perhaps fittingly), Wilson claims he spent endless hours listening to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album while writing “God Only Knows.” “Here, There and Everywhere” is noted for its use of multi-layered vocals, which McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison spent a lot of time perfecting during their three days of recording the tune in June 1966. McCartney, Lennon and Beatles record producer George Martin (sometimes referred to as “the fifth Beatle”) named the song as one of their favorites in The Beatles catalog. Personnel on the recording were: Paul McCartney (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, bass, finger snaps), John Lennon (backing vocals, finger snaps), George Harrison (lead guitar, backing vocals, finger snaps), and Ringo Starr (drums, finger snaps).

Revolver was The Beatles’ final studio album before retiring from live performances to focus their efforts on recording only, which would result in their eighth studio album in 1967, the epic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. An interesting side note is that the album cover artwork for Revolver was done by a longtime friend from The Beatles’ early days in Hamburg — German bassist and artist Klaus Voormann.

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1962. Band members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr led the band to become one of the most popular and influential groups in history. They made 13 studio albums, five live albums, 21 EPs, and 63 singles during their career, and are the best-selling band in history, selling over 800 million albums worldwide. The Beatles have won one Academy Award, four Brit Awards, 11 Grammy Awards, 15 Ivor Novello Awards, 17 NME Awards, and three World Music Awards, and they are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. John Lennon died in 1980, and George Harrison in 2001. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr still record and tour as solo artists to this day.

Here, There and Everywhere - Despite Trade Frictions, Enbridge Forges Ahead with Pipeline Expansions

Author Martin King

It might seem crazy to talk about expanding crude oil and diluent pipeline systems between Canada and the U.S. amid what could escalate into an all-out trade war between the two nations. However, Enbridge, one of the largest pipeline operators in the world, is doing just that — actively planning and investing in pipeline expansions for its Mainline, Express-Platte and Southern Lights systems that would help move an ever-rising tide of Canada’s oil sands crude to market in the years ahead. We examine Enbridge’s plans in today’s RBN blog.

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Natural Gas Liquids

Let's Get Physical - An Insider's Look at the Ins and Outs of International LPG Trading

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U.S. LPG export volumes have climbed to astronomical levels this year. Almost 60% of U.S. propane production, or about 1.3 MMb/d on average so far in 2019, along with a sizable volume of butane, is being shipped to overseas markets, mostly to Asia. As anyone who’s talked shop with an LPG trader knows, international trading of propane and butane (collectively LPGs — Liquified Petroleum Gas) is a wild, roller-coaster kind of business. But how exactly does it all work? How do the players involved acquire the volumes, cut the deals with export dock owners, arrange for shipping and sell the cargoes to buyers? And, most importantly, how do these shippers make money? Today, we begin a series on international LPG trading that looks behind the curtain and drills down into the nuances that make the difference between success and failure in this traditionally opaque world.

Fri 9/5/25 - Blog

Energy

Two of Us - U.S., Canadian Energy Market Connections More Critical Than Ever Amid Rapid Changes

Author Jason Lindquist

North America is an integrated energy market so deeply connected that it functions as one massive, interdependent system for the three “drillbit hydrocarbons”: crude oil, natural gas and NGLs. But the rapid changes happening in the market now — driven not only by supply/demand dynamics and evolving infrastructure but also regulatory policies and political pressures — mean it’s more important than ever to talk about how the ongoing relationship between the U.S. and Canada will evolve and strengthen in the coming years. That was the focus of our School of Energy Canada and the subject of today’s RBN blog. Warning: Today’s blog includes some blatant plugs for a newly available replay of our recent conference in Calgary.

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