Veresen Midstream advances Montney processing expansion plans

March 11, 2016
Cutbank Ridge Partnership (CRP), a venture of Encana Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary Cutbank Dawson Gas Resources Ltd., has approved Veresen Midstream LP’s plan to expand natural gas processing capacity in the Dawson Creek area of northeastern British Columbia’s Montney resource play.

Cutbank Ridge Partnership (CRP), a venture of Encana Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary Cutbank Dawson Gas Resources Ltd., has approved Veresen Midstream LP’s plan to expand natural gas processing capacity in the Dawson Creek area of northeastern British Columbia’s Montney resource play.

Veresen Midstream is a 50-50 partnership of Veresen Inc. and affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP.

Officially greenlighted by CRP in early March, the $930-million (Can.) Saturn Phase 2 expansion project comes as part of Veresen Midstream’s previous agreement with Encana and CRP to undertake up to $5 billion (Can.) of midstream expansion over a 5-year period to support further development within the Montney area (OGJ Online, Apr. 1, 2015), Veresen said in its latest annual report.

An expansion of the 200-MMcfd Saturn Phase 1 compressor station commissioned during mid-2015, the Saturn Phase 2 processing plant will add 400 MMcfd of refrigeration, an additional 200 MMcfd in compression, as well as installations for handling inlet liquids and NGLs.

With building activities for the project already under way, the Saturn Phase 2 plant is the third major gas plant currently under construction as part of Veresen Midstream’s infrastructure agreement with CRP.

CRP approved the $860-million (Can.), 400-MMcfd Sunrise gas plant in October 2015, and the $715-million (Can.), 200-MMcfd Tower rich-gas processing complex in December 2015, Veresen said.

While both the Sunrise and Tower plants remain on schedule for commissioning in late-2017, the Saturn Phase 1 processing plant is due for startup in mid-2018, the company said.

Veresen Midstream additionally has received all regulatory approvals to proceed with a $25-million (Can.) project to expand refrigeration by 50 MMcfd at its Hythe gas processing plant, which connects to Alliance and TransCanada gas pipeline systems.

The Hythe plant expansion is scheduled to be in service during autumn 2016, Veresen said.

Operations overview

As part of its 2015 agreement to provide gathering and compression services in the Montney area to Encana and CRP under separate fee-for-service arrangements, Veresen Midstream’s business currently consists of the following assets:

Hythe processing plant

• 176 MMcfd of sour gas processing capacity (2 trains).

• 340 MMcfd of sweet gas processing capacity (3 trains).

• 120-tonne/day sulfur recover unit (SRU).

Steeprock processing plant

• 198 MMcfd gas processing capacity (2 trains).

• Train 1 includes sour gas processing with dehydration and SRU.

• Train 2 includes amine absorption, dehydration, and acid gas enrichment.

• Connects to Hythe gas plant.

Gathering and compression system

• Operated by Encana on behalf of Veresen Midstream.

• 900 km of gas-gathering lines.

• 100,000 hp of compression.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].