Brazos Midstream advances Permian gas processing, gathering buildout

Brazos Midstream Holdings LLC subsidiary Brazos Midstream Holdings III LLC has completed construction of a grassroots natural gas processing plant and is nearing completion of work on associated new-build gas-gathering infrastructure as part of its operational expansion in the Permian’s Midland basin.

As of Aug. 15, Brazos Midstream reached mechanical completion on installation of its new 200-MMcfd Sundance I cryogenic gas processing plant in Martin County, Tex., which is targeted for start of commercial service in October 2024, the company said.

Additionally, the operator confirmed it has also entered the final stages of construction on about 175 miles of 16-24-in. high-pressure gas-gathering pipeline and associated midstream infrastructure spanning the core of the Texas Midland basin, including Ector, Howard, Martin, Midland, Glasscock, and Reagan counties.

Without revealing a specific timeframe for completion, Brazos Midstream said this latest infrastructure, once completed and in service, will equip the company with about 260 miles of gas-gathering pipelines and 10 compressor stations in its Midland basin system.

Alongside announcing the construction milestones, the operator also revealed plans to build a second cryogenic gas plant in the region that—equipped with a processing capacity of 300 MMcfd and scheduled for startup by yearend 2025—will boost Brazos Midstream’s overall Midland basin processing capability to 500 MMcfd to accommodate customers’ forecasted production growth.

Established in 2014 and acquiring its initial Martin County gas-gathering infrastructure in 2021, Brazos Midstream began construction of the Sundance I plant and associated Midland basin midstream infrastructure in 2023, according to the operator’s website.

Brazos Midstream’s current and planned Midland basin assets—which, in addition to Ector, Howard, Martin, Midland, Glasscock, and Reagan counties, also includes existing gathering infrastructure in Borden County, Tex.—are supported by more than 125,000 acres of long-term acreage dedications under development from its upstream producer customers, the website said.

Brazos Midstream overview

Collectively representing the largest privately held midstream platform in the Permian basin, Fort Worth-based Brazos Midstream entities’ Permian infrastructure, on a combined basis, totals about 1,200 miles of high-pressure natural gas, NGL, and crude oil gathering pipelines across Delaware and Midland basins.

In Southern Delaware basin, Brazos Midstream Holdings II LLC, with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners as its majority investor, owns the multi-train 460-MMcfd Comanche natural gas processing complex in Reeves County, Tex. (OGJ Online, Dec. 17, 2020).

Additional Delaware basin assets include about 900 miles of natural gas, NGL, and crude gathering pipelines and 75,000 bbl of crude oil storage that service production from about 540,000 dedicated acres and over 25 upstream producer customers.

With a combined Permian gas processing capacity of 660-MMcfd—including both the Comanche and recently completed Sundance operations—Brazos Midstream said it aims to expand its Permian processing capability to about 1 bcfd by 2025 with the newly proposed second Midland basin gas plant.