More West Texas gathering, processing to come onstream

EagleClaw Midstream Services LLC, Midland, Tex., has bought natural gas gathering and processing in Reeves County, Tex. The company declined to identify the seller.

Included in the deal are more than 50 miles of gathering pipeline, a 15-MMcfd refrigerated Joule-Thomson (JT) plant, a 60-MMcfd cryogenic plant that remains under construction, and seven new 1,700-hp compressors.

These assets form EagleClaw’s East Toyah gathering and processing that will handle production from stacked pay zones in the Delaware basin, including the Upper and Middle Wolfcamp, Bone Spring, and Avalon Shale formations, said the company announcement.

The East Toyah processing plant is on 80 acres in Reeves County, 8 miles northeast of the town of Toyah. The gathering system and the JT plant are in operation; the cryogenic plant will come online in second-half 2015. East Toyah, said the announcement, is large enough to “accommodate multiple expansions to processing capacity.”

EagleClaw also announced it has recently commissioned its Northwest Toyah gathering and processing, also in Reeves County, handling production from the Delaware basin and encompassing more than 30 miles of pipeline and a 15-MMcfd refrigerated JT plant.

The Northwest Toyah plant is 6 miles northwest of Toyah, within 13 miles of the East Toyah plant. EagleClaw said it plans to connect the two systems.

The company’s two anchor customers are Silverback Exploration LLC, San Antonio, and Elevation Resources LLC, Midland. For EagleClaw’s East Toyah acquisition, it said Silverback has dedicated production from 50,000 acres. And Elevation has also dedicated as much as 15,000 acres to EagleClaw’s Northwest Toyah system.

The announcement stated EagleClaw receives $200 million in equity support from EnCap Flatrock Midstream, San Antonio, which also supports Silverback in private equity commitments. Elevation receives equity support from Pine Brook Partners, New York.