Tristream Energy Announces Plans For New Pipeline Injection Station For Natural Gasoline/Light Condensate In East Texas
HOUSTON, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Tristream Energy LLC announced plans today to construct a new natural gasoline, light condensate (diluent) pipeline injection facility that will connect to Explorer Pipeline in East Texas. Tristream anticipates the project, Candilight Junction, to be operational within 15 - 18 months, or as early as third quarter 2016.
Tristream has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Explorer Pipeline to create the new pipeline connection for diluent near Tristream's Eustace facility located in Henderson County in East Texas. The Candilight Junction project plan includes construction of new truck and rail unloading facilities, storage tanks, injection pumps, metering, and a ten-inch pipeline connecting Tristream's Eustace terminal facility to Explorer Pipeline.
Explorer, a common carrier pipeline, transports refined products and diluent north to the Chicago area, where it connects with other common carrier pipelines transporting diluent to Edmonton, Alberta, and the Canadian oil sands market.
In addition to utilizing its existing gathering and processing assets, Tristream plans to expand its Eustace plant rail facilities, served by Union Pacific Railroad, to accommodate rail-originated natural gasoline and light condensate. Tristream will also add truck unloading to provide its East Texas customers with access to the Western Canadian diluent market via long-haul pipeline. Tristream operates a 5,000 barrel-per-day (BPD) distillation condensate stabilizer at Eustace, capable of producing export quality condensate, which gives regional customers the opportunity to bring unstabilized condensate to Eustace for stabilization and injection into Explorer.
Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world. According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), of Canada's 173 billion barrels of oil reserves, 167 billion are located in the Western Canadian oil sands and are recoverable using in situ technology. Canada produces just over 3.0 million barrels per day (MMBPD) of heavy oil from the oil sands up from 1.5 MMBPD in 2008. By 2025, and even in the current lower price oil environment, CAPP expects oil sands output to reach 3.7 MMBPD, of which 3.3 MMBPD will be bitumen, requiring up to 1.0 MMBPD of diluent in order to flow. The U.S. share of that could be as high as 380,000 BPD, up three times from the 125,000 BPD exported in 2014. Therefore, diluent demand is expected to continue its steady growth pattern providing a strategic export market north that is served by Explorer and other common carrier pipelines.
According to Tristream Chief Executive Officer Reid Smith, "Our Candilight Junction project will create a strategic connection to Explorer and will enable Tristream to leverage our existing facilities, pipelines, and condensate stabilization and treatment assets. It will also provide an alternative East Texas aggregation and market-clearing service for our customers for light condensate and natural gasoline to the growing Canadian diluent market."
Tristream Energy, LLC, a Haddington Ventures portfolio company, provides natural gas gathering, treating, gas processing, condensate stabilization, and terminalling services to the East Texas energy market. Tristream is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and has approximately 75 employees. Visit Tristream's website at www.tristreamenergy.com.
Haddington Ventures LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is a Houston based private equity firm that specializes in control-oriented investments in the midstream energy and infrastructure space. Haddington currently has approximately $610 million of assets under management. For further information, visit Haddington's website at www.hvllc.com.
SOURCE Tristream Energy LLC
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