Enterprise Products Partners said Thursday it will expand its ECHO crude storage terminal in Houston as part of an overall plan to increase infrastructure in Southeast Texas.
The Enterprise Crude Oil Houston (ECHO) storage terminal will be increased to more than 6 million barrels of capacity and have access to Enterprise's marine terminal at Morgan's Point on the Houston Ship Channel, the company said in statement.
Plans call for a total 4 million barrels of new crude oil storage capacity at the ECHO and Bertron facilities and about 55 miles of 24-inch and 36-inch pipeline to connect ECHO "with the major refineries in the Southeast Texas market" Enterprise said. Those plants, which represent about 3.6 million b/d of refining capacity, have historically taken imports but will now have access to growing domestic production, it said.
The expansion will be completed in phases by the fourth quarter of 2014.
"We have received strong interest from our customers to expedite the development of additional storage capacity and distribution capability" in the region, Enterprise COO A.J. "Jim" Teague said.
"We believe ECHO will become the critical link between the new pipelines bringing supplies from the producing basins and the end use refining market in Southeast Texas as it is located at the crossroads of crude oil moving from north to south and from west to east," said Teague.
Enterprise could not immediately be reached for further comment.
