Independence Hub production platform has departed Corpus Christi, Texas, for a five-day trip to Mississippi Canyon Block 920 where it will be installed. The hub, which is owned 80 percent by Enterprise Products Partners L.P. and 20 percent by Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc., will be located approximately 150 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, in about 8,000 ft of water, the deepest to date for an offshore platform.


Constructed in Corpus Christi, the topsides feature equipment for processing, compression and measurement. In September of 2006, the topsides were integrated with the hull, which was built in Singapore, creating the Gulf of Mexico's largest offshore natural gas production platform measured by production capacity.


Mechanical completion of the platform at the installation site is expected in March 2007, at which time the Independence Hub platform will begin to earn annual fixed demand fees of approximately $55 million, or $44 million to Enterprise’s ownership interest.


Natural gas production into the hub is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2007. Once production commences, in addition to the demand fees, the platform and the associated 134-mile Independence Trail natural gas pipeline, which is 100 percent owned by Enterprise, will generate incremental gross operating margin net to the partnership of approximately $17 million per year from volumetric fees for each 100 million cubic feet per day of production.

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