San Mateo wraps Delaware basin gas plant expansion, updates pipeline projects

Dallas-based Matador Resources Co. and San Mateo Midstream LLC—the company’s 51%-owned midstream joint venture with Houston private equity firm Five Point Energy LLC (49%)—have completed and commissioned an expansion of San Mateo’s Black River cryogenic natural gas processing plant in Eddy County, NM (OGJ Online, Dec. 18, 2019).

Completed on time and on budget earlier this summer, the expansion project added an incremental inlet capacity of 200 MMcfd to the Black River plant’s previously existing capacity of 260 MMcfd for a new total designed inlet capacity of 460 MMcfd, Matador said on Sept. 1.

Intended to support Matador’s exploration and development activities in the Delaware basin, the expanded Black River processing plant—which currently processes natural gas from Matador’s Rustler Breaks asset area and provides processing services for other San Mateo customers in the region—will also now gather and process natural gas from Matador’s Stateline asset area in southern Eddy County and from the Stebbins area and surrounding leaseholds in the southern portion of its Arrowhead asset area—known as the Greater Stebbins area—further north in Eddy County, the company said.

Matador—which has secured firm transportation via pipeline and fractionation for all anticipated NGLs and residue natural gas volumes, including those attributable to the newly increased inlet capacity and delivered at the tailgate of the Black River plant—also confirmed that San Mateo is near completing construction on the following pipeline projects, all of which are scheduled to enter service between early to mid-September 2020:

• About 24 miles of large-diameter natural gas gathering pipelines between the Black River plant and Matador’s Stateline asset area.
• About 19 miles of large-diameter gas gathering pipelines between the Black River plant and the Greater Stebbins area.
• About 19 miles of various-diameter crude oil pipelines from certain points of origin in Eddy County to the existing San Mateo interconnect with Plains Pipeline LP in Eddy County (OGJ Online, Aug. 7, 2020).

Alongside recently initiating flowback operations on its five Leatherneck wells in the Greater Stebbins area—all 2-mile laterals—Matador said it also remains on track throughout September and into early October to begin turning to sales in a staggered fashion of three to four wells at a time the 13 2-mile lateral Boros wells drilled and completed in the Stateline asset area in early September 2020.

Matador said it will provide additional details on completion of the various pipeline and other midstream projects, as well as initial test results from the Boros and Leatherneck wells in September and October, as these results become available.

All of these projects reflect Matador’s integrated strategy of growing its exploration, production, and midstream businesses together in terms of reserves growth, midstream expansion, and improved capital efficiency as set out in 2018, the company said.