Amid discussions of Europe importing shale-gas derived feedstocks to reduce dependence on Russian gas, U.S.-based Enterprise Products Partners has announced plans to build a fully refrigerated ethane export terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast.

The facility designed to have an aggregate loading rate of some 10,000 barrels/h - as much as 240,000 barrels/d - is expected to start up in Q3 2016.

Michael A. Creel, CEO of Enterprise's general partner, said the company continues to receive "strong interest from the international community." Long-term contracts with unnamed clients already have been signed, and if ongoing talks with other potential customers are successful, all of the facility could be contracted.

At current output rates, Enterprise estimates that the U.S. will have 300,000 barrels/d of ethane more than it needs to meet expected domestic demand from new ethylene facilities coming on stream. New outlets will need to be found.

The ethane export facility will be integrated with Enterprise's Mont Belvieu, Texas, complex, which is connected to growing supplies from the Marcellus and Utica shale regionsthrough the company's recently completed ATEX ethane pipeline.

Mont Belvieu has more than 650,000 barrels/d of NGL fractionation capacity and 100 million barrels of NGL storage capacity.