Natural gas processing and related NGL
marketing activities $ 1,165.4 $ 1,443.0 $ 1,324.4 NGL pipelines and related storage 900.0 740.7 638.4
NGL fractionation 449.0 284.8 221.4
Total $ 2,514.4 $ 2,468.5 $ 2,184.2 Selected volumetric data:
NGL transportation volumes (MBPD) 2,787 2,472 2,284
NGL fractionation volumes (MBPD) 726 659 575
Equity NGL production (MBPD) (1) 126 101 116
Fee-based natural gas processing (MMcf/d) (2) 4,612 4,382 3,820 (1) Represents the NGL volumes we earn and take title to in connection with our processing activities. In general, equity NGL production decreased in 2012 compared to 2011 due to reduced ethane recoveries associated with the weakness in natural gas processing margins resulting from lower NGL prices. The increase in 2013 compared to 2012 is primarily due to equity NGL volumes produced at our Yoakum facility in South Texas.
(2) Volumes reported correspond to the revenue streams earned by our gas plants. The increase in fee-based processing volumes in 2013 and 2012 is primarily due to (i) the start-up of our Yoakum gas plant in May 2012 and (ii) changes in processing agreements whereby producers are electing to process more of their natural gas on a fee basis in order to retain NGLs extracted from their natural gas streams, which, in turn, also lowers our equity NGL production.
Natural gas processing and related NGL marketing activities
Comparison of 2013 with 2012. Gross operating margin from our natural gas processing and related NGL marketing activities for 2013 decreased $277.6 million when compared to 2012. Gross operating margin from our Meeker natural gas processing plant in Colorado decreased $182.4 million year-to-year primarily due to lower processing margins in 2013. In general, natural gas processing margins are lower in 2013 when compared to 2012 due to lower NGL prices and higher natural gas prices in each respective year. Gross operating margin from our Pioneer natural gas processing plant in Wyoming decreased $81.3 million year-to-year primarily due to the effects of ethane rejection and general production declines, both of which lowered equity NGL production volumes at this facility during 2013 when compared to 2012. In general, producers utilizing our Pioneer facility have curtailed their drilling programs in the Jonah and Pinedale production fields in response to continued low market prices for natural gas.
Gross operating margin from our South Texas natural gas processing plants increased a net $15.9 million year-to-year primarily due to higher volumes, which accounted for a $54.3 million increase, and higher processing fees, which resulted in a $28.6 million increase, partially offset by lower processing margins, which accounted for a $65.3 million decrease. These gas plants continue to benefit from NGL-rich natural gas production from the Eagle Ford Shale and the start-up of our Yoakum gas processing plant. The first phase (or “train”) of our new cryogenic natural gas processing plant at Yoakum, Texas commenced operations in May 2012. We placed the second and third trains at the Yoakum plant in service in August 2012 and March 2013, respectively. Gross operating margin from our remaining natural gas processing plants decreased a combined $40.4 million year-to-year primarily due to lower processing margins in 2013.
Gross operating margin from our NGL marketing activities for 2013 increased a net $44.3 million when compared to 2012 primarily due to higher sales volumes, which accounted for a $131.0 million increase, partially offset by lower sales margins, which accounted for an $87.0 million decrease.
Comparability between 2013 and 2012 gross operating margin amounts was also impacted by a $20.0 million gain related to proceeds received in a vendor settlement and a $13.7 million gain attributable to changes in a provision for certain gas plant capacity obligations, both of which were recorded in 2012.
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Comparison of 2012 with 2011. Gross operating margin from our natural gas processing and related NGL marketing activities for 2012 increased $118.6 million when compared to 2011. Gross operating margin from our NGL marketing activities for 2012 increased $150.4 million when compared to 2011, of which we attribute $94.2 million of the year-to-year increase to higher sales margins and the remainder to higher sales volumes. Our South Texas natural gas processing plants posted a $57.2 million year-to-year increase in gross operating margin primarily due to higher equity NGL and fee-based processing volumes from the start-up of the first and second trains of our Yoakum facility in 2012. Gross operating margin from our Meeker natural gas processing plant increased $34.8 million year-to-year primarily due to the favorable impact of our commodity hedging activities on this facility’s processing margins during 2012.
Gross operating margin from our Pioneer and Chaco natural gas processing plants decreased $115.8 million year-to-year primarily due to lower equity NGL production volumes. Gross operating margin from our Louisiana and East Texas natural gas processing plants decreased $32.6 million year-to-year primarily due to lower natural gas processing margins.
Gross operating margin for 2012 includes a $20.0 million gain related to proceeds received in a vendor settlement and a $13.7 million gain attributable to changes in a provision for certain plant capacity obligations.
NGL pipelines and related storage
Comparison of 2013 with 2012. Gross operating margin from NGL pipelines and related storage assets for 2013 increased $159.3 million when compared to 2012 primarily due to strong results from our South Texas and Houston region NGL assets and the Dixie Pipeline. Gross operating margin from our South Texas NGL Pipeline System increased $68.1 million year-to-year primarily due to a 126 MBPD increase in transportation volumes associated with Eagle Ford Shale production. Gross operating margin from our Houston Ship Channel LPG export terminal and related Channel Pipeline increased a combined $50.0 million year-to-year primarily due to increased volumes. As a result of high demand for propane export services, loading volumes at our Houston Ship Channel LPG export terminal increased 99 MBPD year-to-year and volumes transported on the related Channel Pipeline increased 108 MBPD year-to-year.
Gross operating margin from our Dixie Pipeline and related NGL terminals increased $18.2 million year- to-year primarily due to a 27 MBPD increase in transportation volumes for 2013, which accounted for $10.7 million of the increase after taking into account associated operating costs, and higher transportation and other fees, which accounted for $7.5 million of the increase. Transportation volumes on the Dixie Pipeline were negatively impacted during 2012 due to downtime associated with pipeline integrity projects and warmer than normal winter weather.
Gross operating margin from our Mid-America Pipeline System, Seminole Pipeline and related NGL terminals increased a net $7.2 million year-to-year. A $43.2 million increase in revenues associated with higher system-wide tariffs and other fees, combined with a $4.3 million decrease in operating costs primarily due to pipeline gains during 2013, was partially offset by a $40.3 million decrease in gross operating margin attributable to lower transportation volumes. Transportation volumes for our Mid-America Pipeline System and Seminole Pipeline decreased a combined 75 MBPD year-to-year primarily due to lower NGL production from Rocky Mountain natural gas processing plants caused by ethane rejection and reduced demand for NGL transportation services between Conway, Kansas and Mont Belvieu, Texas.
Comparison of 2012 with 2011. Gross operating margin from our NGL pipelines and related storage business for 2012 increased $102.3 million when compared to 2011. Gross operating margin from our Mid-America Pipeline System, Seminole Pipeline and related NGL terminals increased $37.2 million year-to-year primarily due to an increase in system-wide tariffs and other fees. Gross operating margin from our Mont Belvieu NGL storage business increased $22.9 million year-to-year primarily due to higher storage volumes. Gross operating margin from our Houston Ship Channel LPG export terminal and related Channel Pipeline increased $22.0 million year-to- year attributable to higher propane export volumes. Gross operating margin from our South Texas NGL Pipeline System, including the Eagle Ford NGL Pipeline placed into service in April 2012, increased $45.0 million year-to- year primarily due to higher NGL volumes associated with Eagle Ford Shale production. The foregoing year-to- year increases in gross operating margin from our NGL pipelines and related storage business were partially offset by $20.1 million of net operational measurement gains in 2011 that did not reoccur in 2012.
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NGL fractionation
Comparison of 2013 with 2012. Gross operating margin from NGL fractionation for 2013 increased $164.2 million when compared to 2012 primarily due to higher fractionation fees and volumes at our Mont Belvieu complex. Our Mont Belvieu NGL fractionators have benefitted from increased mixed NGL volumes arriving at Mont Belvieu from domestic shale plays such as the Eagle Ford Shale and other producing regions such as the Rocky Mountains. Higher average fractionation and other fees during 2013 attributable to our Mont Belvieu NGL fractionators accounted for a $82.4 million year-to-year increase in gross operating margin. Also, NGL fractionation volumes at our Mont Belvieu complex increased 97 MBPD year-to-year (net to our ownership interest), which resulted in a $61.1 million year-to-year increase in gross operating margin after taking into account associated operating costs. NGL fractionation capacity at our Mont Belvieu complex increased by 170 MBPD during 2013 as a result of placing our seventh and eighth NGL fractionation units into service in September and November 2013, respectively. Overall, total NGL fractionation capacity at our Mont Belvieu complex was approximately 670 MBPD at the end of 2013.
Comparison of 2012 with 2011. Gross operating margin from NGL fractionation for 2012 increased $63.4 million when compared to 2011 primarily due to higher fractionation volumes at our Mont Belvieu complex. We placed into service our fifth and sixth NGL fractionation units at our Mont Belvieu complex during the fourth quarters of 2011 and 2012, respectively. Completion of these units increased total NGL fractionation capacity at our Mont Belvieu complex by a combined 170 MBPD.
Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines & Services. The following table presents segment gross operating margin
and selected volumetric data for the Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines & Services segment for the years indicated (dollars in millions, volumes as noted):
For the Year Ended December 31,
2013 2012 2011