According to U.S. midstream oil and natural gas company MPLX LP release on August 2, it has increased total pipeline throughputs by 6% in the second quarter of 2022 and terminal throughput by 4%, versus year-ago levels.
In an earnings statement of MPLX, the total pipeline throughputs were 5.9 million bbl/d, with terminal throughput of 3.1 million bbl/d for the second quarter.
Due to an increased utilization at refineries operated by its parent company Marathon Petroleum Co., MPLX's upticks were mainly created.
Despite the market concerns about a potential global recession that would likely hurt consumption, MPLX is still bullish on energy demand.
The company reported a net income of $875 million and adjusted earnings of $1.457 million in the second quarter, both higher than in the same period of 2021. Also, it expects that there will still be room to run on the demand side, as demand itself is looking good and the inventories are low, so it is still a quite constructive environment for the company
Gathered volumes grew up by 11% from year-ago levels to an average of 5.6 Bcf/d. In the Marcellus region, gathered volumes fell 1% compared to year-ago levels to an average of 1.3 Bcf/d.
The company also announced Tuesday a program to repurchase an additional $1 billion in publicly traded units.
MPLX is expanding several projects, including in the Permian Basin where the Whistler pipeline is increasing from 2 Bcf/d to 2.5 Bcf/d, in addition to lateral pipelines into the Midland Basin and Corpus Christi domestic and export markets.
Furthermore, the company expects the significant growth of the Permian and considers that beyond even the announced expansions of the existing pipes such as Whistler, a couple of more pipes are going to be needed over the next 5-plus years.
Moreover, the construction is also maintained on the 200 MMcf/d Tornado ll processing plant, which MPLX anticipates coming online in the second half of 2022. Additionally, 68,000 bbl/d Smithburg de-ethanizer project in the Marcellus is expected to come online in the third quarter.
MPLX operates several natural gas gathering systems with the scope of services provided dependent on the composition of the raw or untreated gas. Its natural gas processing complexes remove the heavier and more valuable hydrocarbon components from natural gas.
Once natural gas has been processed, the heavier and more valuable hydrocarbon components, which have been extracted as a mixed NGL stream, can be further separated into their component parts for end-use sale through the process of fractionation. It sells basic NGL products, including ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline.
