Keyera expanding plant
$220M plan for facility in Fort Saskatchewan
Keyera Corp. said Wednesday it is proceeding with a $220-million expansion at its Fort Saskatchewan natural gas liquids fractionation and storage facility.
The project will involve more than doubling the facility’s existing capacity from 30,000 barrels per day to 65,000.
In the face of low natural gas prices, producers have been targeting “liquids-rich” deposits that yield pricier butanes and propanes. Splitting those products requires the service of a fractionator — basically a tower that uses heat and pressure to separate the components.
Pembina Corp. recently announced a $415-million twinning at its Redwater facility and is considering a future expansion with a third plant.
Neil Shelly, executive director of the Alberta Industrial Heartland Association, said the latest project is more great news for the region.
“It further solidifies the region as the centre for natural gas liquids (NGL) processing in Alberta. With all the activity in the shale gas plays of Alberta, there are lots of liquids that need to be separated and we are seeing this all come together in our area. The great offshoot benefit is that companies that are looking for feedstocks such as propane will now have more options to invest in our region.”
David Smith, president and chief operating officer of Keyera, said the expansion “will enhance our integrated service offering in the Fort Saskatchewan area, allowing our customers to turn their NGL production into cash flow.”
Long-term agreements have provided the initial commercial support for the project, and Keyera is currently in negotiations with other producers for the remaining capacity from the expansion.
In conjunction with the fractionator, the project will include the construction of new product handling facilities, operational storage and pipeline interconnections. Detailed engineering work is underway and Keyera is targeting completion in the first quarter of 2016.
The new fractionator will be capable of handling a C3+ mix stream of NGLs (a mixture of propane, butane and condensate).
Keyera is also constructing a de-ethanizer project at its Fort Saskatchewan site that will cost more than $100 million. The de-ethanizer will allow Keyera to fractionate approximately 30,000 barrels per day of a C2+ mix stream (a mixture of ethane, propane, butane and condensate).