ITOCHU to Participate in LPG Export Project in USA

ITOCHU to Participate in LPG Export Project in USA

ITOCHU Corporation said that it has entered into Joint Development Agreement with Coastal Caverns, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vitol Inc., the North American subsidiary of the Vitol Group, for the joint development of LPG Export Project in the Gulf Coast region of the United States.

This project will include storage capacity for Propane and Butane at and around Beaumont, Texas, as well as a processing facility capable of handling 100,000bbls per day, which will allow for export of about Three Million Metric Tons per Year. The project is currently under the engineering stage, and plan to have Final Investment Decision during June 2013. Construction shall start thereafter with estimated completion at the end of 2014 when the export begins.

Total project cost is estimated around $500Million, and ITOCHU’s share in the project will be 34%. ITOCHU plans to market the LPG mainly to Asia.

The Vitol Group is one of the world’s largest independent energy trading company founded in 1966 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Its trading portfolio includes LPG, crude oil, oil products, LNG, natural gas, coal, power, metals and carbon emissions. Globally the Vitol Group trades around 6 million barrels of crude oil and products per day and revenues in 2011 were $297 billion.

[mappress]
LNG World News Staff, March 06, 2013; Image: ITOCHU