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Enterprise Completes Purchase of Wyoming Natural Gas Processing Plant; Proceeds With Expansion Plans

Posted on: Monday, 3 April 2006, 09:01 CDT

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) announced today that its affiliate, Enterprise Gas Processing LLC, has completed the acquisition of the Pioneer silica gel natural gas processing plant located near Opal, Wyoming, from an affiliate of TEPPCO Partners, L.P. for $38 million. As part of the transaction, Enterprise purchased TEPPCO's rights to process natural gas originating from the Jonah and Pinedale fields located in southwest Wyoming. The acquisition of the silica gel plant is expected to be immediately accretive to Enterprise.

Due to the expected increase of natural gas production from the Jonah and Pinedale fields, Enterprise has commenced construction to double the plant's processing capacity from 300 million cubic feet per day ("MMcf/d") to 600 MMcf/d. Additionally, engineering work continues on a previously announced new 650 MMcf/d cryogenic natural gas processing facility to be located adjacent to the silica gel plant. Both projects are on schedule with the expansion of the silica gel plant expected to be completed by mid-2006 and the new cryogenic plant expected to begin service by the end of the third quarter of 2007. Natural gas liquids produced from the new cryogenic processing plant will be transported to market through Enterprise's Mid-America Pipeline and Seminole Pipeline systems that extend from the Rockies to the Texas Gulf Coast region, and will be fractionated at Enterprise's fractionators in Hobbs, Texas, which is currently under construction, or at the partnership's complex in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

"We are pleased to acquire the Pioneer silica gel plant which provides a first step to processing natural gas from the prolific Jonah and Pinedale fields," said Robert G. Phillips, Enterprise's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This is an accretive transaction that provides an attractive opportunity to extend our natural gas processing franchise into one of the fastest growing natural gas producing regions in North America. The cryogenic plant will have the flexibility to operate from a conditioning mode to full recovery, and will support our downstream pipeline and fractionator expansions which are central to Enterprise's recently announced Rocky Mountain expansion strategy."

This transaction was reviewed and approved by the Audit and Conflicts Committee of the board of directors of Enterprise's general partner, Enterprise Products GP LLC, with a fairness opinion rendered by Simmons & Company International.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded energy partnerships with an enterprise value of approximately $15 billion, and is a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs and crude oil. Enterprise transports natural gas, NGLs and crude oil through 32,776 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines and is an industry leader in the development of midstream infrastructure in the Deepwater Trend of the Gulf of Mexico. Services include natural gas transportation, gathering, processing and storage; NGL fractionation (or separation), transportation, storage, and import and export terminaling; crude oil transportation and offshore production platform services. For more information, visit Enterprise on the web at www.epplp.com. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is managed by its general partner, Enterprise Products GP LLC, which is wholly owned by Enterprise GP Holdings L.P. (NYSE:EPE). For more information on Enterprise GP Holdings L.P., visit its website at www.enterprisegp.com.

This press release contains various forward-looking statements and information that are based on Enterprise's beliefs and those of its general partner, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Enterprise. When used in this press release, words such as "anticipate,""project,""expect,""plan,""goal,""forecast,""intend,""could,""believe,""may," and similar expressions and statements regarding the plans and objectives of Enterprise for future operations, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although Enterprise and its general partner believe that such expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, neither Enterprise nor its general partner can give assurances that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, Enterprise's actual results may vary materially from those Enterprise anticipated, estimated, projected or expected. Among the key risk factors that may have a direct bearing on Enterprise's results of operations and financial condition are:

-- fluctuations in oil, natural gas and NGL prices and production due to weather and other natural and economic forces;

-- a reduction in demand for its products by the petrochemical, refining or heating industries;

-- the effects of its debt level on its future financial and operating flexibility;

-- a decline in the volumes of NGLs delivered by its facilities;

-- the failure of its credit risk management efforts to adequately protect it against customer non-payment;

-- terrorist attacks aimed at its facilities; and

-- the failure to successfully integrate its operations with assets or companies, if any that it may acquire in the future.

Enterprise has no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Business Wire

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