The Voice of Rob Donaldson, Sr Vice President, Targa Resources
The Voice spoke with Rob Donaldson, Sr Vice President, Targa Resources to hear his thoughts and goals for Targa Resources.
The Voice: Please could you tell us about TARGA Resources Corp and its key activities?
Rob Donaldson: Targa Resources is a leading provider of midstream services and is one of the largest independent midstream energy companies in North America. Targa owns and operates a diversified portfolio of complementary midstream energy assets. Targa is primarily engaged in the business of gathering and processing natural gas, and storing, transporting, fractionating, and selling NGLs and NGL products, to include LPG exports from the US. Targa has the largest gathering and processing position in the Permian Basin, and is building the Grand Prix NGL Pipeline, which will connect growing NGL supply to its downstream business in Mont Belvieu and Galena Park, Texas. As such, Targa invests to develop the infrastructure necessary to connect growing domestic supply to key domestic and international markets.
The Voice: Could you tell us a little about your career path to get to get you here?
Rob Donaldson: I started in the business in 1996 managing a tank car fleet for Warren Petroleum, a subsidiary of Chevron, supporting propane and butane movements for four of Chevron’s refineries in the Western US. Next I used the logistics background to market butanes supporting refinery alkylation and blending seasons. Over time, in my career with Targa – and its predecessors of Dynegy and Warren Petroleum – I moved from Western US butanes and propane to the Bakken Basin raw NGL (ygrade) to Targa’s LPG export marketing. In my current role, I lead Targa’s NGL Logistics and Marketing efforts both domestically and internationally.
The Voice: What do you see as the key challenges today in the US energy market?
Rob Donaldson: The largest challenge is the pace of infrastructure development to support continued production growth. The current production growth is driven by oil and associated gas and gas liquids. As such, the related infrastructure needs to be in place as LPG must be gathered, fractionated, and delivered to domestic and international buyers. The fastest and largest growing LPG markets are overseas, requiring US companies to develop the supply chain to reach those markets. Herein is the specific challenge to ensure the producers and end users are matched up. The US midstream companies have done well to-date for product delivery but further connection will be required.
The Voice: And what about the main opportunities for TARGA today?
Rob Donaldson: Targa’s opportunities are aligned in the market challenges discussed above, which is keeping pace with the infrastructure needs of its customers given the expected domestic supply growth. Targa is currently engaged in its largest capital expenditure in company history. The Grand Prix Pipeline connects Targa’s industry leading Permian Basin gathering and processing with fractionation and markets in Mont Belvieu TX. The pipeline, along with associated gas processing and fractionation, is a significant step in linking production with end users, especially for LPG. For Targa, executing as a top of class company, is a high priority that will bring with it great opportunities for new markets.
The Voice: What benefits do you see as being a member of the WLPGA?
Rob Donaldson: The US LPG market has moved from importing to exporting in a very short period of time, changing Targa’s view of global interaction. Targa actively supports regional and national associations in the US, continuing decades into our past. Joining and actively supporting the WLPGA is a natural step for Targa. More than that though, the quality of work, people, product, and result at the WLPGA reinforces Targa’s active participation. We look forward to supporting the WLPGA and its members for a long time to come.
