Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) said that the first segment of its Aegis Pipeline between Mont Belvieu and Beaumont, Texas, is completed and ready to make ethane deliveries. The 60-mile, 20-inch diameter pipeline segment is part of the 270-mile Aegis Pipeline that when complete will be part of a 500-mile header system from Corpus Christi, Texas, to the Mississippi River in Louisiana. The system is now in-service from Corpus Christi to Beaumont.

The rest of the Aegis Pipeline will be completed in two stages. The next segment from Beaumont to Lake Charles, La., is scheduled for completion in third-quarter 2015. The last segment, from Lake Charles to the Mississippi River, is expected to be complete by the end of 2015. Aegis will have a capacity expandable up to 425,000 barrels per day (bbl/d).

“The completion of this segment and delivery connection of the Aegis system represents a major milestone in the development of the project,” said A.J. “Jim” Teague, COO of Enterprise’s general partner. “Combined with our Mont Belvieu complex, which is the terminus for more than 3 million barrels per day of NGL supply pipeline capacity, is connected to over 2 million barrels per day of industry NGL fractionation capacity and more than 110 million barrels of EPD-owned salt dome storage capacity, the Aegis system provides unsurpassed flow assurance and market choices for producers and enhanced reliability and supply choices for our consuming customers.”

EPD also announced plans to build a ninth NGL fractionator at its Mont Belvieu complex. The fractionator will have a nameplate capacity of 85,000 bbl/d and is expected to be operational in January 2016. Once the fractionator is complete, EPD will have gross nameplate NGL fractionation capacity of 755,000 bbl/d at the Mont Belvieu complex, and total gross fractionation capacity of about 1.2 million bbl/d.