Energy Transfer increases Eagle Ford gas pipeline, processing capacity

Christopher E. Smith
OGJ Pipeline Editor

HOUSTON, Apr. 25 -- Energy Transfer Partners LP will expands and extend its previously announced Rich Eagle Ford Mainline (REM) natural gas pipeline and build a new processing facility in Jackson County, Tex.

ETP has long-term, fee-based agreements with multiple producers, including Rosetta Resources Operating LP, SM Energy Co., and a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., underpinning the planned construction. The new agreements include volume commitments exceeding 540,000 MMBtu/day.

The REM pipeline expansion, running from ETP’s Chisholm Pipeline in DeWitt County east into Jackson County, Tex., will add 70 miles of 36-in. OD pipe to the initial 160-mile, 30-in. REM pipeline announced in February.

The completed pipeline will have a capacity of at least 600 MMcfd. Completion of REM’s initial phase remains scheduled for the fourth quarter. Completion of the expansion is scheduled for first-quarter 2013.

The Jackson County gas processing plant will have 600 MMcfd capacity, expandeable to 800 MMcfd, and is scheduled for completion in first-quarter 2013. ETP estimates total cost of the REM expansion and Jackson County processing facility at $450 million.

The REM project will expand ETP’s midstream infrastructure in the Eagle Ford, which includes the recently completed Dos Hermanas pipeline and the Chisholm pipeline scheduled for completion later this quarter (OGJ Online, Feb. 18, 2011).