OREANDA-NEWS. Enterprise Products Partners said its newly expanded 16mn bl per month Houston LPG export terminal is fully contracted through 2017.

Thus far the Houston-based midstream operator reported it has a total of 1,365 cargoes scheduled to export between 2016 and 2020, according to a presentation today to the Goldman Sachs Energy Conference.

The terminal expansion went into service in December, and steady export demand continues to bolster US LPG pricing despite record-high propane inventories. EPC propane prices averaged 43pc of WTI during December, up from 38.7pc of WTI seen in December 2014. EPC butane averaged 63.7pc of WTI last December, up from 52.6pc of crude the year before.

Separately, Enterprise is moving forward with plans for an ethane export terminal at Morgan's Point on the Houston Ship Channel. Enterprise reported today that the ethane terminal, which will be able to load approximately 200,000 b/d of the feedstock across two docks, is 90pc contracted. That facility is still slated to begin operations in the third quarter of this year. Shipbuilders are already ordering ethane-capable vessels, and Enterprise noted the global ethane fleet will rise from 14 currently to as many as 50 by 2017.

Ramped up NGL production in the Marcellus shale, in addition to ongoing production in west Texas and the midcontinent, continue to leave ethane long and rejection at high levels. Enterprise reported flows on its Appalachia to Texas (ATEX) pipeline rose from 70,000 b/d last year to 100,000 b/d currently.