(ICIS) -- The fire at the Enterprise Products west storage facility in Mont Belvieu, Texas, is burning itself out, sources said on Wednesday, with the market shifting its focus to potential supply shortages and rising feedstock costs.
Market sources said the flames early on Wednesday were minimal compared with Tuesday, although the company said small hot spots remained. Enterprise spokesman Rick Rainey said pipelines near the fire were not near capacity, so the fire would not burn as long as it would if they were full, according to news reports.
Enterprise had said it would not be able to fully assess the damage until after the fire was extinguished, but added on Wednesday that the fire had weakened enough for investigators to enter the area. The company noted that its main facilities at Mont Belvieu were not damaged and remained operational, including its natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionators, propylene fractionators, butane isomerisation units and octane enhancement facility.
US ethylene bids and offers spiked following the fire, which was also causing some crackers to run at reduced rates because of constraints on ethane supply, market participants said. The ethylene bid-offer range was at 45.50-48.00 cents/lb on Wednesday morning, sources said, up from 44.00-45.50 cents/lb prior to the fire.
The spike resulted from higher ethane prices, market sources said. A deal for ethane was done on Wednesday morning at 62.625 cents/gal, up roughly 8% from a range of 57.500-58.500 cents/gal on Tuesday. Prices for butane and propane also rose on Wednesday, market sources said.