EPP commissions new gas processing plant in Midland basin

Enterprise Products Partners LP has started up a new cryogenic natural gas processing plant in Glassock County, Tex., in the Midland basin of the West Texas Permian basin.

With a nameplate capacity of 300 MMcfd, the newly operating Poseidon plant is also equipped to extract more than 40,000 b/d of NGLs, EPP said on July 18.

Startup of Poseidon—the operator’s sixth gas plant in the Midland basin—boosts EPP’s total gas processing and NGL extraction capacities within the basin to 1.3 bcfd and more than 185,000 b/d, respectively, the company said.

Supported by long-term acreage dedication agreements, the Poseidon plant was completed on time and on budget, representing a strategic addition to EPP’s Permian basin assets, said co-chief executive officer Jim Teague.

“For the foreseeable future, the Permian basin is expected to drive domestic production of crude oil, natural gas and NGLs, and the expansion of our midstream network will support producers as they meet growing demand in the US and internationally,” Teague said.

The Poseidon gas plant is one of several major growth projects by EPP scheduled to begin service and generate new sources of cash flow by yearend 2023 as part of an overall $3.8-billion investment, Teague confirmed.

During first-quarter 2024, EPP said it will commission the Leonidas gas plant—its seventh in the Midland basin—which is also supported by long-term acreage dedication agreements.

Currently under construction in Midland County, Tex., the Leonidas plant will also have a gas processing capacity of 300 MMcfd and NGL-extraction capacity of more than 40,000 b/d, according to the operator.

Both the Poseidon and Leonidas plants represent EPP’s expansion of assets the operator acquired under its purchase of Navitas Midstream Partners LLC in February 2022 (OGJ Online, Nov. 2, 2022; Jan. 10, 2022).

EPP also confirmed work remains under way on the expansion of its Mentone gas processing complex in Loving County, Tex., with the site’s Mentone II and Mentone III plants scheduled for startup in fourth-quarter 2023 and first-quarter 2024, respectively (OGJ Online, May 31, 2023).

Once in operation, the Mentone II and Mentone III plants will increase EPP’s nameplate gas processing capacity at the complex by 600 MMcfd, as well as enable an incremental NGL-extraction capacity of 80,000 b/d.

When completed, EPP said the gas plants now under construction in the Midland and Delaware basins will lift the company’s total gas processing and NGL-extraction capacities across the Permian basin to 3.8 bcfd and more than 520,000 b/d, respectively.