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The main business products of the exporter of American energy products warned that the Trump administration that continues to “assemble” fossil fuel shipments to China would only be counterproductive against US carriers.
The Enterprise co-cement, Jim Teague, issued his complaints during the July 28 Profit call approximately two months after the United States Department of Commerce temporarily prohibited from ethane exports to China as a negotiation tool of the commercial agreement after China has placed restrictions on exports of certain rare earth metals to the teague of the United States frequently on their right-wing. A Trump to Trump.
Both countries in July lifted their restrictions as part of a commercial truce, while a long -term commercial agreement is negotiated, which remains pending.
“We have been clear about the risk of armoring US energy exports,” Teague said in the gain call. “This type of actions rarely harm the planned objective and, often, counterproductive, hurting our own industry.”
China is, with much, the largest importer of American ethane, the most common construction block for petrochemicals and plastics worldwide. The United States is the only important exporter of Ethane, which makes China completely depend on US exports. Approximately half of all US ethan exports. UU. They go to China, and loads are not easily redirected to other nations. Enterprise (No. 78 in the Fortune 500) is the main ethane exporter of its Houston ship channel.
“We are lucky that this administration understands the important importance of global energy and trade, even if the Department of Commerce may need a small reminder,” Teague said. “Unfortunately, we could face similar challenges in the future.”
Specifically, the Department of Commerce temporarily demanded from companies and other exporters to request special federal licenses to export ethane and butane to China for the declared reason of the “unacceptable risk” that natural gas fluids could be used for a “military final use.”
The company’s executive vice president, Tony Chovanec, said that the actions of the Commerce Department cost the company at least a Customer of Ethane who was not from China.
“What he has done and where it has been a problem, really committed the American brand for its reliable supply and energy security when it has just cut such a counterpart,” Chovanec said about the actions of the Department of Commerce. “It has been harmful but, in the short term, we could administer it with our diverse combination of contracts.”
In addition to China, he said that Enterprise sends ethane to Mexico, Brazil, Europe, India, Vietnam and Thailand.
Looking for alternatives
In a new report, East Daley’s analysis firm said China can seek to develop alternatives for US Estano to avoid geopolitical interruptions. China could push the nations of the Middle East and Europe to further develop their own exports of ethane to diversify supplies.
“In recent years, the American ethane was the quiet power of global petrochemicals: Cheap, abundant and presumably isolated from geopolitics. That assumption is no longer maintained,” said East Daley. “The American-China commercial war has exposed a critical truth: there is no global substitute for American ethane at a scale. What was once a stable raw material is now trapped in the transverse currents of commercial policy and the risk of long cycle demand.”
Meanwhile, Enterprise is only doubling your export and propane exports businesses, including the expansion of its Houston ship channel facilities.
Enterprise this month also has just opened the first phase of its new Ethane export center of the Neches River Terminal in Texas, near the Louisiana border. Initially, the installation will be able to send 120,000 barrels of ethane per day. A second phase online in the first half of 2026 will be more than double the export capacity to 300,000 barrels per day.
Typically produced as a byproduct together with oil or natural gas, the US natural gas fluids. UU. Volumes more than double in a decade to more than 7 million barrels per day, of which almost 6 million barrels are ethane, propane and butane, according to the administration of energy information of the United States (EIA). This spike triggered a boom of the US petrochemical plants. Estano typically becomes petrochemical ethylene, which is used to manufacture products such as polyethylene, the most common plastic in the world.
“The appetite for Ethane and American ethylene is still strong in both Asia and Europe,” Teague said.
