Summit Midstream starts up gas processing plant in DJ basin

Summit Midstream Partners LP (SMPL), The Woodlands, Tex., has commissioned a 60-MMcfd cryogenic processing plant in Weld County, Colo., in the DJ basin.

The plant, which substantially increases SMPL’s previous DJ basin processing capacity, delivers residue gas to Colorado Interstate Gas and Trailblazer Pipeline and processed NGLs to the Overland Pass Pipeline, the company said.

SMPL said it also expects the plant to operate more efficiently and to generate substantially higher NGL recoveries compared with the company’s legacy 20-MMcfd processing plant at the site.    

Volumes at this new plant are slated to ramp up considerably throughout the balance of this year based on existing production behind the company’s system and new production associated with its customers' drilling and completion schedules.

SMPL said its capital investment in the new processing plant was underpinned with monthly demand payments from some of its customers, with commissioning of the plant enabling the company to earn those monthly demand fees beginning in this year’s third quarter.

“[Start-up of the new plant] represents a key milestone for SMPL and creates significant scale for us in one of our core growth basins. This new infrastructure provides our customers with a much-needed outlet for the rapidly growing associated natural gas production in this rural part of northern Weld County, which we expect will create additional expansion opportunities for SMPL in the future,” said Leonard Mallett, SMPL’s interim president and chief executive officer.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].