Gulfport Energy Corp. and Rice Midstream Holdings LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rice Energy Inc., announced plans to form a midstream joint venture to develop natural gas gathering and water services assets to support dry gas development in the Ohio counties of Belmont and Monroe.
Gulfport will own 25% of the joint venture, and Rice Energy will own the rest with Rice Energy being responsible for constructing and operating the assets. Construction was to begin immediately and first deliveries were scheduled for the middle of 2016.
Plans call for a gathering system of 165 miles of high- and low-pressure pipelines with multiple interconnections to interstate pipelines including: Rockies Express, ET Rover, TETCO and Dominion East Ohio.
The water services part of the joint venture will involve a fresh water distribution system to deliver fresh water to pads for well completions.
Gulfport will dedicate 77,000 leasehold acres. Together, Gulfport and Rice Energy plan to invest $520 million to develop gathering and compression assets and $120 million for water assets during 6 years.