US distilled condensates exports

GlobalData has said that recent approval by the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for two companies to begin exporting distilled condensate could be a big game changer. An analyst at GlobalData has said that this will open the door to a significant increase in global export levels of both this product and distilled crude from the US. Pioneer Natural Resource Company and Enterprise Product Partners have been granted the permits to export lightly processed condensate. This ruling sets a precedent for further authorisation of exports from the US.

Carmine Rositano, Managing Analyst, Downstream Oil and Gas, GlobalData, said , ‘both companies send condensate produced from the Eagle Ford shale play through stabilisers and distillation units, and the BIS determined that the condensate is sufficiently processed to be classified as a product.’

‘Stabilisers are required to separate light hydrocarbon gases from heavier hydrocarbons to meet pipeline requirements, but not all stabilisers have distillation units. Companies will now be assessing the economic viability of adding these units, given the prospect of exporting to the global market.’

The analyst also commented that condensate could immediately compete in Latin America where it could be used to lighten local heavy sour domestic crude in countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico and Colombia.

Rositano concluded, ‘going further afield, US condensate would be able to compete with Middle East exports into Asia, based on Dubai crude prices, and could also be shipped into Europe to reduce regional dependence on crude supplies from Russia.’

Adapted from press release by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/08082014/globaldata-on-condensate-exports/