(Note: This is not this week’s Frac Spread)
The continued drop in natural gas feedstock prices helped natural gas liquids (NGL) frac spread margins at Mont Belvieu showed improvements and lessened the drop for Conway margins while improving several other margins.
Ethane margins were down at both hubs as the margin fell 22% at Conway and 6% at Mont Belvieu. This was the lone NGL frac spread margin to decrease at both hubs the week of March 17.
The most improved margin at both hubs was for butane, which rose 2% at Conway and 5% at Mont Belvieu. The second most improved margin at Mont Belvieu was for iso-butane, which improved by 4%. Pentanes-plus (C5+) was the second most improved margin at Conway at 2%.
The most profitable NGL to make at both hubs was C5+ at US$1.40 per gallon (/gal) at Mont Belvieu and $1.38/gal at Conway. This was followed, in order, by iso-butane at $1.09/gal at Mont Belvieu and $1.06/gal at Conway; butane at $1.04/gal at Mont Belvieu and 92¢/gal at Conway; propane at 75¢/gal at Mont Belvieu and 70¢/gal at Conway; and ethane at 30¢/gal at Mont Belvieu and 14¢/gal at Conway. – Frank Nieto
Current Frac Spread (Cents/Gal) | |||||
Date: March 25, 2010 | Conway | Change from | Mont | ||
last week | Belvieu | last week | |||
Ethane | 40.83 | 56.90 | |||
Shrink | 26.52 | 27.32 | |||
Margin | 14.31 | -22.34% | 29.58 | -5.52% | |
Propane | 106.83 | 112.28 | |||
Shrink | 36.64 | 37.74 | |||
Margin | 70.19 | -0.26% | 74.54 | 2.59% | |
Normal Butane | 133.67 | 147.13 | |||
Shrink | 41.48 | 42.72 | |||
Margin | 92.19 | 2.33% | 104.41 | 4.72% | |
Iso-Butane | 145.83 | 149.75 | |||
Shrink | 39.84 | 41.04 | |||
Margin | 105.99 | -1.89% | 108.71 | 3.93% | |
Pentane+ | 182.50 | 186.13 | |||
Shrink | 44.36 | 45.69 | |||
Margin | 138.14 | 1.47% | 140.44 | 2.64% | |
NGL $/Bbl | 42.71 | -2.69% | 46.47 | -0.45% | |
Shrink | 14.61 | 15.05 | |||
Margin | 28.09 | -1.82% | 31.42 | 1.80% | |
Gas ($/mmBtu) | 4.00 | -4.31% | 4.12 | -4.85% | |
Gross Bbl Margin (in cents/gal) | 64.19 | -1.79% | 73.02 | 1.77% | |
NGL Value in $/mmBtu | |||||
Ethane | 2.25 | -11.51% | 3.13 | -5.20% | |
Propane | 3.71 | -1.68% | 3.90 | -0.04% | |
Normal Butane | 1.44 | 0.17% | 1.59 | 1.75% | |
Iso-Butane | 0.91 | -2.57% | 0.93 | 1.37% | |
Pentane+ | 2.35 | 0.00% | 2.40 | 0.69% | |
Total Barrel Value in $/mmbtu | 10.66 | -3.42% | 11.95 | -0.97% | |
Margin | 6.66 | -2.88% | 7.83 | 1.21% | |
Price, Shrink of 42-gal NGL barrel based on following: Ethane, 36.5%; Propane, 31.8%; Normal Butane, 11.2%; Isobutane, 6.2%; Pentane+, 14.3%, Fuel, frac, transport costs not included. Conway gas based on NGPL Midcontinent zone, Mont Belvieu based on Houston Ship Channel. | |||||
Shrink is defined as Btus that are removed from natural gas through the gathering and processing operation. |
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