Enterprise Reports No Major Damage From Hurricane Rita
  by: OilOnline
  Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has announced that, based on initial assessments, its major assets on the U.S. Gulf Coast and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico in the path of Hurricane Rita did not sustain material damage. The majority of Enterprise's onshore operations in the affected area have been visually inspected and, subject to the availability of utility power in isolated areas of the region, are in the process of returning to service. Preliminary assessments of Enterprise's offshore assets are underway with additional inspections expected in the next few days.

"Based on our preliminary assessments, we are pleased to report that Enterprise's key assets located onshore and offshore in the Gulf Coast region did not incur material damage from Hurricane Rita," stated Robert G. Philips, President and Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise's general partner. "We are working with our customers to restart facilities as soon as possible. I would like to express my gratitude for the tireless efforts of our dedicated employees who safely operated our facilities as long as feasibly possible prior to the arrival of Hurricane Rita to provide essential logistical services to our producing and consuming customers and who are currently recommencing operations at our facilities following the storm."

Mont Belvieu, Texas Facilities - Enterprise's Mont Belvieu complex located approximately 25 miles east of Houston did not sustain major damage and is in the process of restarting all of its natural gas liquid ("NGL") fractionation, butane isomerization, propylene fractionation and octane enhancement facilities over the next two to three days. Our storage facilities in Mont Belvieu have returned to service.

Houston Ship Channel Import/Export Facility - Enterprise's NGL import/export facility located near Houston has returned to service and is currently handling tanker shipments.

Texas Intrastate Natural Gas Pipeline System and Processing Plants - There was no damage to this system and it is currently operating at pre-storm levels. A visual inspection of the Indian Springs natural gas processing plant, located in Polk County, Texas indicated no material damage; however, the plant has been shut in due to area production curtailments and loss of utility power. All other natural gas processing plants in Texas remained operational during the storm and did not incur damage as a result of the storm.

Acadian Intrastate Natural Gas Pipeline System - No major damage reported.

Lou-Tex NGL and Propylene Pipelines - Our Lou-Tex pipelines that extend from Mont Belvieu to south central Louisiana reported no damage. Both pipelines returned to service at pre-storm levels on September 25.

Dixie Pipeline System - No major damage to the pipeline system was noted; however, the pipeline system is not operational from Mont Belvieu to Baker, Louisiana due to the lack of utility power or to damage to power facilities at pump stations along this portion of the pipeline system. Propane terminals along the pipeline system are operational and propane loadings at the terminals should not be affected. An aerial inspection of the pipeline system is expected to be completed today.

Louisiana and Mississippi Natural Gas Processing Plants - Seven of the ten significant Louisiana natural gas processing plants in which Enterprise owns interests returned to service prior to Hurricane Rita. One of these plants, the 15.5%-owned Sea Robin facility was impacted by flooding from Hurricane Rita, but did not appear to have structural damage.

As an update to the impacts of Hurricane Katrina, repair efforts had begun at the Toca natural gas processing plant in Chalmette, Louisiana, but were suspended due to mandatory evacuations related to Hurricane Rita. New flooding in Chalmette from Hurricane Rita did not impact the plant, and repair efforts will resume today as our employees and contractors begin to return to the site. Repairs to the Toca II cryogenic processing train, which has a capacity of approximately 250 million cubic feet per day ("MMcfd") are expected to be completed in approximately four weeks. Repairs to the Toca I processing train, which has a capacity of approximately 850 MMcfd, are expected to be completed in approximately eight weeks. In the month of August, prior to Hurricane Katrina, the Toca plant was processing approximately 500 MMcfd of natural gas. Enterprise is working with the upstream pipelines and its producers to establish a timeline for the resumption of service at Toca. Enterprise has a 60.4% ownership interest in the Toca plant.

A definitive estimate of the time it will take to complete repairs to our 29.4%- owned Yscloskey natural gas processing plant and our 13.1%-owned Venice natural gas processing plant and the associated NGL fractionator has not been completed by Dynegy, Inc., the plants' operator. It should be noted that while the aggregate natural gas processing capacity of the Toca, Yscloskey and Venice facilities is 4.25 billion cubic feet per day ("Bcfd"), the average volume of natural gas being processed by these three plants in the August prior to Hurricane Katrina was approximately 2.0 Bcfd.

Louisiana Fractionators - There was no damage to our Louisiana fractionators as a result of Hurricane Rita. Our 30%-owned propylene fractionator near Baton Rouge returned to normal operations after Hurricane Katrina on August 29 and is currently operating at pre-Katrina levels. Our 50%-owned Promix fractionator returned to service after Hurricane Katrina on September 2 and returned to pre-Katrina fractionation volumes shortly thereafter. Promix has returned to operations following Hurricane Rita and is ramping up volumes. Our 100%-owned Norco fractionator and 32.2%-owned Baton Rouge fractionator are operational and waiting for upstream natural gas processing plants to return to normal operations.

Western and Central Gulf of Mexico Offshore Platforms and Pipelines - Enterprise's key assets in this area include the High Island offshore natural gas pipeline system (HIOS), the East Breaks natural gas gathering system, the Cameron Highway oil pipeline system (CHOPS), the Poseidon oil pipeline system, the Phoenix natural gas pipeline system, the Anaconda natural gas pipeline system, the Nautilus/Manta Ray natural gas pipeline system and the Allegheny oil pipeline system. Initial indications show no material damage to these systems. Evaluations of junction platforms, supply sources and the resumption of data flow and control systems are underway. Initial inspection shows no damage to delivery locations for CHOPS in Texas City, Texas or Port Arthur, Texas.

We have completed initial inspections of our platforms at Ship Shoal 332, Garden Banks 72, South Marsh Island 205 and Falcon's Nest with no major damage reported. Aerial inspections of West Cameron 167 and High Island A5 platforms have been completed with no visible damage reported. These platforms serve as junction platforms and supply points for the HIOS and CHOPS pipelines. We intend to conduct a more complete assessment of the operating capability of these platforms in the next few days. Anadarko personnel returned to the Marco Polo platform and reported no major damage. Aerial inspections and site visits of the remaining platforms and subsurface pipeline inspections will be conducted over the next few days or as equipment is available. Although we anticipate initiation of flows in the near term, the ultimate timing of returning our offshore assets to service will be subject to further assessment of our assets, as well as the condition of upstream of downstream pipelines, the availability of equipment for repairs, the status of production, the return of operations personnel and the approval of regulators.

Eastern Gulf of Mexico Offshore Platforms and Pipelines - Personnel also returned to the Viosca Knoll 817 platform, reported no major damage and are in the process of recommencing operations. The Viosca Knoll Natural Gas Gathering System sustained damage on the western end of the system as the result of Hurricane Katrina. The damaged portion of the system has been isolated and the unaffected portion can continue to operate with a capacity of approximately 500 MMcfd.

As a precaution to the potential impact of Hurricane Rita, Enterprise moved control of its natural gas and NGL pipelines to its fully-equipped back-up facilities in San Antonio, Texas on September 22 and 23. Control of the systems returned to its Houston headquarters on September 25.