By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON, July 23 (Reuters) - A liquefied petroleum gas

tanker moored at the Enterprise Products Partners ( EPD )

terminal along the Neches river in Texas, ship tracking data

showed on Wednesday, the first vessel to arrive for loading at

the facility.

Energy research firm Vortexa said the mooring signaled

the commissioning of the plant. Enterprise did not immediately

reply to a request for a comment.

Enterprise, one of the top U.S. ethane producers and

exporters, has been adding to its natural gas liquids business

by building and expanding facilities to export ethane and

propane to meet growing global demand.

The company announced in April plans to construct a new

export facility, which could load either ethane or propane,

located on the Neches River in Orange County, Texas.

Ethane and propane are byproducts of oil and gas production.

Ethane is primarily used to make plastics, while propane is used

for heating and cooking.

Phase 1 of Enterprise's Neches River project has a nameplate

capacity of 120,000 barrels per day and will accommodate loading

rates of up to 45,000 barrels per hour. It was expected to begin

service in the second half of 2025.

Medium-sized gas tanker Navigator Eclipse entered the

Enterprise Beaumont dock late on Tuesday and was moored on

Wednesday, according to ship tracking data on LSEG and Kpler.

The vessel has only moved ethane between U.S. and China

since May 2021, according to Kpler.

The vessel is likely to head to Satellite Chemical's

Lianyungang import terminal in China with the

commissioning cargo, Vortexa's Samantha Hartke wrote in a note.

Satellite could not immediately be reached outside of office

hours.

A company uses the commissioning stage to test and ensure

all aspects of a plant are working before moving to commercial

operations.

Phase 2 of the terminal, which will allow Enterprise to load

up to 180,000 bpd of ethane and 360,000 bpd of propane, or a

combination of the two, is expected to begin service in the

first half of 2026.