October 23, 2020 – Lloyd’s List
Eastern Pacific wins ethane carrier deal as US-China trades rise
By Michelle Wiese Bockmann
…Houston-based energy consultant RBN Energy estimates ethane exports at the Energy Transfer facility averaged 31,000 bpd in 2018, rising to 51,000 in the first eight months of 2020.
Exports from the Enterprise terminal on the Houston ship channel were tracked at 129,000 bpd in 2019, falling to 110,000 bpd so far this year,
The Orbit terminal once commissioned in November adds at least 75,000 bpd to export volumes over the next year, rising to 150,000 bpd in 2022. It will also catapult China to become the largest buyer of US ethane. At present, China is behind India, the UK, and Norway (see table below).
About 290,000 bpd of ethane is exported from the US, RBN Energy estimates, of which about a third is sent via pipeline to Canada and the rest compressed or refrigerated for shipping.
“Our understanding is that China’s petchem sector is very open to importing a lot more US ethane, but that the ongoing trade war between the two countries has been a hindrance to those plans,” RBN Energy said in a recent report…
Read the full article here: https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1134386/Eastern-Pacific-wins-ethane-carrier-deal-as-US-China-trades-rise
