Nuevo Midstream LLC, Houston, has completed Phase 2 expansion of its Ramsey natural gas gathering, processing, and treating in the Delaware basin near Orla, Tex., Reeves County, about 65 miles west of Odessa.
Nuevo’s new cryogenic processing plant, Ramsey 2, can process 100 MMcfd, bringing processing capacity at the Ramsey site to 110 MMcfd.
Drilling projections from existing and potential customers, strong performance of wells in the basin, and additional acreage dedications have prompted Nuevo to plan a third cryogenic plant, the company said. The plant is being built by Cameron to use Randall Gas’s NGL technology.
Nuevo expects to bring Ramsey 3 online in early 2014, raising total cryogenic processing capacity there to 310 MMcfd.
In addition to the processing expansion, Nuevo has increased amine treating capacity at the Ramsey plant to 625 gpm and will make add more treating capacity within the year.
In addition to the natural gas produced from the shallow Delaware sands, Nuevo also processes natural gas produced from five other distinct resource pays in the Delaware basin, the company said.
As producers in the Ramsey area continue to define the extent of each play and as drilling programs evolve, Nuevo said, it will explore a fourth expansion to the Ramsey site, which could add 200 MMcfd in capacity as early as 2015.
In connection with expansion of Ramsey gas processing, Nuevo has completed several natural gas-gathering projects that bring its Ramsey gathering system to 210 miles of high and low-pressure lines. The company has also completed a second interconnect to the El Paso Natural Gas pipeline system.
The company further announced that it will offer gathering to crude oil producers in the Delaware basin. Nuevo is planning to build out a crude gathering system that will complement the company’s expanding gas gathering and will provide deliveries into several longhaul crude pipelines.
Nuevo said its expansion into crude gathering will provide gas producers an alternative to trucking crude from tank batteries to injection points. It expects to begin construction on the first phase of its crude system in the second quarter with this system coming online in the third quarter.