Executive Summary:
Infrastructure: ONEOK is rebuilding the 210 Mb/d Medford fractionator in Oklahoma, a project East Daley sees as key to optimizing OKE’s integrated Conway-to-Mont Belvieu NGL system.
Exports: NGL exports fell 8.6% for the week ending May 8, driven by lower LPG and ethane exports from Marcus Hook.
Rigs: The total US rig count decreased the week of May 2 to 542 rigs. Liquids-driven basins decreased W-o-W from 416 to 414.
Infrastructure:
ONEOK (OKE) is rebuilding the 210 Mb/d Medford fractionator in Oklahoma after the facility was damaged in a July 2022 explosion. East Daley Analytics believes the project is strategically important for maximizing utilization across OKE’s integrated NGL system connecting Conway, KS, and Mont Belvieu, TX.
Conway mainly supplies propane, butane and natural gasoline to the Midwest, where demand is stable. Mont Belvieu, however, is key for NGL demand growth, driven by Gulf Coast petrochemicals and international exports.
OKE’s Arbuckle pipelines transport mixed NGLs from Conway to Mont Belvieu, operating at 85% capacity over the last year. By contrast, OKE’s Sterling purity product pipeline is underutilized at just 34%. The new fractionator will improve OKE’s ability to separate ethane from propane, increasing the use of the Sterling system to supply the growing Mont Belvieu market. This, in turn, will create more capacity on Arbuckle for future supply growth.
The Medford project also provides OKE with critical optionality at a time when Mont Belvieu fractionation is structurally tight. East Daley expects Gulf Coast fractionation constraints to persist through the end of the decade as NGL production and export demand continue outpacing new capacity additions.
Enterprise Products (EPD) reinforced this view during its 1Q26 earnings call, noting improving fractionation feed volumes across the Mont Belvieu complex. Tightness in Gulf Coast fractionation raises the value of assets like Medford, particularly for integrated operators with both transportation and storage exposure.
The chart below, available from East Daley’s NGL Hub Model in Energy Data Studio, shows Conway fractionation capacity by operator in the stacked area, with estimated throughput shown in the black line.
By rebuilding Medford, ONEOK gains greater flexibility to optimize fractionation economics between Conway and Mont Belvieu. The company can capture regional purity product spreads while reducing its dependence on constrained Gulf Coast fractionators. In effect, OKE is partially de-bottlenecking its Mont Belvieu position by relocating a portion of fractionation activity upstream.
The strategy is especially well suited to OKE’s supply footprint. While Permian NGLs have limited access into Conway, OKE’s sizable Bakken and Rockies positions provide a natural source of incremental barrels that can benefit from Conway fractionation and downstream Sterling transport capacity.
The result is a more efficient system-wide optimization strategy: Medford enables OKE to separate more barrels upstream, increase utilization on an underused pipeline asset, and preserve long-haul mixed NGL takeaway capacity as Bakken and Rockies production continues to expand.
Exports:
NGL exports fell 8.6% for the week ending May 8, driven by lower LPG and ethane exports from Marcus Hook.
Targa’s Galena Park (+30.8%) and Phillips 66’s Freeport (+18.2%) posted LPG export growth while all other terminals declined. Notably, after a strong week exporting 221 Mb/d of LPG, Enterprise’s Neches River saw volumes fall 57.2% W-o-W. The drop at Neches River was likely due to the terminal resuming ethane exports after reporting none for three consecutive weeks. Overall, LPG exports declined 11.7% W-o-W.
For ethane, EPD’s Morgan’s Point (-38.1%) and ET’s Marcus Hook (-100%) saw sharp declines, while EPD’s Neches River and ET’s Nederland & Orbit rebounded from weeks with zero exports, particularly Neches River after a three-week pause. These gains more than offset the losses, driving a 14.7% W-o-W increase in ethane exports.
Rigs:
The total US rig count decreased the week of May 2 to 542 rigs. Liquids-driven basins decreased W-o-W from 416 to 414.
- Bakken (+1): Chevron
- Eagle Ford (-2): Devon Energy, Magnolia
- Permian (-1): Permian Resources
- Uinta (-1): EOG Resources
