RBN Energy Blogcast

U.S. Gulf Coast ethane exports were up sharply in September thanks to the startup of new export terminals in Texas. The surge in export volumes contributed to an 8% increase in ethane prices between July and September and a similar jump in the ratio between ethane and natural gas. In today's RBN blog, we look at how the recent additions to export capacity have impacted prices and review the basics of ethane economics. 

The midstreamers that built out and/or acquired the sour gas treatment facilities, acid gas injection wells and other assets E&Ps need to exploit the Northern Delaware Basin's crude-oil-saturated rock are sittin' pretty. Put simply, they anticipated what is now a race to “Drill, baby, drill!” in Lea County, NM, where the IP rates for crude are high but so are the H2S and CO2 content in the associated gas. In today's RBN blog, we look at Targa's, Enterprise's and MPLX's sour-gas-related assets.