The Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) signed an exclusive supply and co-development agreement with American Ethane Co. on Feb. 22 to provide the remaining capital investment into American Ethane’s development of a 10 million-ton-per-year ethane export terminal project on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Under the agreement, EMG will create a portfolio company to source and supply to American Ethane up to 480,000 barrels per day from various U.S. midstream companies and producers. The agreement contemplates that EMG will construct new export facilities or partner with other operators to expand existing export facilities and associated midstream supply infrastructure.

The anticipated supply and financial investment from EMG will support three conditionally binding 20-year agreements that American Ethane has executed to supply 7.2 million tons per year of ethane to three ethane-to-ethylene cracker projects in China, the first of which was signed by American Ethane and Nanshan Group on Nov. 9, in the presence of President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping. American Ethane anticipates entering into an additional ethane supply agreement in the future.