EnLink Midstream has begun exporting butane from its Riverside fractionator along the Mississippi River in South Louisiana in April to customers in the Caribbean.

The company is also exporting other products, such as propane, from the facility to other markets in Latin America.

The facility, which completed an expansion to transload 14,500 barrels (bbl) of crude oil from rail cars to barges and pipelines several years ago, was recently upgraded to export NGL products.

“Exporting NGL out of our Riverside facility is an exciting development for EnLink. We invested only a small amount of capital to create the ability to export NGLs. The ability to conceive and develop that kind of opportunity demonstrates the attractiveness of our Louisiana position,” Mac Hummel, executive vice president and president of EnLink’s NGL and crude oil business, told Hart Energy.

Company officials told DSB that so far they have shipped five loads to the greater Caribbean and Central America with a typical load of between 30,000 bbl to 60,000 bbl per shipment.

During the company’s recent conference call to discuss first-quarter 2016 earnings, EnLink officials stated they anticipate establishing relationships with additional carriers that will allow the company to move additional volumes more ratably through the system.

Frank Nieto can be reached at fnieto@hartenergy.com.