Aux Sable Liquid Products, working in conjunction with Alliance Pipeline, continues to be one of the cornerstones of our business. Operating together, Aux Sable and Alliance form a high value, total energy delivery system that is unique from any other long-haul natural gas transportation system in North America.
As an integral part of this energy delivery system, Aux Sable operates a world scale NGL extraction and fractionation facility located near Chicago, Illinois in Channahon, at the terminus of the Alliance pipeline. From an origination point in northeast British Columbia, Alliance’s large gathering system extends into Alberta, enabling western Canadian gas producers to transport a “rich” natural gas stream, primarily consisting of methane, but also including ethane, propane, butane and condensate, which, collectively, are referred to as “natural gas liquids” or “NGLs”. Transporting NGLs within the gas stream provides for a higher energy value, or heat content, which reduces the volumetric transportation cost for the natural gas shippers using the Alliance pipeline.
Did You Know?
Aux Sable Liquid Products owns and operates one of the largest NGL extraction and fractionation plants in North America. The facility is located in Channahon, Illinois about 50 miles southwest of Chicago near the eastern terminus of the Alliance pipeline. It is capable of processing 2.1 Bcf/d of natural gas and can produce about 87,000 barrels per day of specification NGL products.
On receipt of gas supplies from the Alliance pipeline, Aux Sable, which has the exclusive right to extract the NGLs contained within Alliance’s rich natural gas stream, extracts, the component NGL products where upon they are sold to petrochemical, refinery, specialty chemical, and propane heating markets throughout the midwest United States.
Alliance’s significant gas gathering footprint in northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia allows Alliance and Aux Sable to offer a suite of cost-effective gas transportation services to meet the needs of the emerging shale plays in northeastern British Columbia and, eventually, the NGL-rich natural gas supplies that could be transported from frontier regions in northern Canada and Alaska. Closer to the US market, an on a more immediate time line, is the emerging Bakken play that extends across southern Saskatchewan and North Dakota which Alliance is able to access due to its close proximity.
By way of Aux Sable Liquid Products and its affiliate, Aux Sable Canada, Aux Sable employs industry-leading experts, capable of focusing their business strengths to pursue new development and growth opportunities that will increase our overall investment base.
Some of these investment opportunities will be derived from Aux Sable creating strong business relationships that attract rich natural gas supplies into the Alliance pipeline through new gathering laterals and interconnections. Other opportunities being pursued include injected NGLs (primarily propane and butanes) to profitably utilize the Channahon NGL Facility's capacity; evaluation of constructing and operating an Alberta-based extraction facility straddling the Alliance pipeline to meet the growing ethane feedstock demands of Alberta’s world scale petrochemical industry; and establishing a sizeable position in the Alberta off-gas processing sector on a strategically located development site within the Fort Saskatchewan industrial complex, adjacent to existing and proposed petrochemical, refinery, and bitumen upgrader players.
For more information visit: www.auxsable.com
