Fire, explosion reported at Sasol's Lake Charles petrochemical plant

Fire resulting from a reported explosion at the Sasol Ltd. petrochemical plant near Lake Charles, La., on Jan. 13 was extinguished by plant personnel, the company said. The Lake Charles West plant in Westlake, La., is part of the Lake Charles Chemicals project, which consists of an ethane cracker with a capacity of about 1.5 million tons per year and six downstream chemical units, according to Sasol's website. The ethane cracker reached "beneficial operation," or passed a 72-hour production test run, in late August 2019.

Enterprise starts up isobutane dehydrogenation plant in Texas

Enterprise Products Partners LP on Jan. 13 said it has placed into service its isobutane dehydrogenation plant in the Mont Belvieu, Texas, area. "The completion of the new [isobutane dehydrogenation] facility extends our butane value chain by allowing us to increase production of both high purity and low purity isobutylene to be used primarily as feedstock to manufacture lubricants, rubber products and fuel additives," A.J. Teague, CEO of Enterprise's general partner, said.

Pembina hikes cost estimate for its share of Alberta petchem plant

Pembina Pipeline Corp. raised its share of the capital cost of a planned integrated propane dehydrogenation and polypropylene plant in Alberta to C$2.7 billion to account for a newly executed lump sum contract for the plant's propane dehydrogenation facility. Pembina previously pegged its net investment at C$2.5 billion. The midstream service provider said the updated cost estimate will not affect its previously announced 2020 budget.

DCP Midstream divests helium plant, gathering system to Tumbleweed Midstream

DCP Midstream LP sold its Ladder Creek helium plant and gathering system to privately-held Tumbleweed Midstream LLC for an unknown amount. The Ladder Creek plant and system serve natural gas producers in eastern Colorado and western Kansas, where production has a high helium content. The plant has a processing capacity of 40 MMcf/d and can also extract and liquefy 1.5 MMcf/d of helium and produce NGLs and residue gas.