Phillips 66 (PSX -2.51%) announced today that it received approval from its board of directors for $3 billion in new midstream growth projects. The company will now begin to move forward on both its Sweeny Fractionator One and the Freeport Liquefied Petroleum Gas Export Terminal. Together, the projects will create more than 50 full-time jobs as well as more than 1,000 temporary construction jobs in Texas, according to the company.
The Sweeny Fractionator One will be a 100,000-barrel-per-day natural gas liquid, or NGL fractionator. It will supply purity NGL products to the petrochemical industry as well as to heating markets. The company plans to start up the fractionator in the third quarter of 2015.
The second project will be the Freeport LPG Export Terminal. Once complete in mid-2015, the project will have the capacity to initially export 4.4 million barrels per month of LPG. It will then be able to ship NGLs like propane to international petrochemical, heating, and transportation markets.
The growing supply of NGLs from America's drilling boom is creating a need for projects like these from Phillips 66. The Sweeny Fractionator will allow Phillips 66 to improve the availability of NGLs for U.S. consumption while the Feeport LPG Export Terminal will help to ensure that the domestic market isn't oversupplied. These projects will also allow Phillips 66 to leverage its existing infrastructure so that it can maximize its returns to investors.
