By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Nov. 13 -- An Enterprise Products Partners LP joint venture said Tuesday it will provide transportation, processing, and exchange services to BP PLC for its southern Green Canyon gas production in the central Gulf of Mexico.
Enterprise's partners in the JV are Shell Gas Transmission LLC and Marathon Oil Co. As part of the deal, Enterprise will double the capacity of a Louisiana gas processing plant.
The agreements include a life of lease dedication from BP for its share of reserves in the Holstein, Mad Dog, and Atlantis developments in the southern Green Canyon area.
Manta Ray Offshore Gathering LLC and Nautilus Pipeline Co. LLC have signed agreements with BP to provide gas transportation. Upon receipt of gas from the Cleopatra Gas Gathering System, a BP-developed pipeline, at Manta Ray's Ship Shoal 332 platform, the gas will be transported on Manta Ray to the Ship Shoal 207 platform, where it will be delivered into the Nautilus pipeline system.
"We believe the Manta Ray-Nautilus-Neptune corridor maximizes the revenue for producers from their deepwater natural gas production in the central Gulf of Mexico by providing them access to the highest value natural gas and NGL markets on the Louisiana Gulf Coast," said Doug Krenz, president of Shell Gas Transmission, operator of the Manta Ray and Nautilus pipeline systems.
From Ship Shoal 207, the 101-mile Nautilus pipeline will transport the gas to the Neptune gas processing plant in St. Mary's Parish, La. Enterprise owns a 25.67% equity interest in both the Manta Ray and Nautilus pipelines. Affiliates of Shell Gas Transmission and Marathon own a 50% and 24.33% interest, respectively, in each of the two pipelines. Shell is the operator of Manta Ray and Marathon is the operator of Nautilus.
The Neptune plant has an agreement with BP to strip natural gas liquids (NGLs). Enterprise owns 66% of the Neptune facility and serves as operator. Marathon owns the rest.
O.S. "Dub" Andras, Enterprise president and CEO, said, "Through our integrated NGL pipeline, fractionation and storage system, we can provide producers with the ability to take delivery of their blended or purity barrels of NGLs anywhere along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, which is the largest consuming region of NGLs in the world.
"These arrangements with BP effectively extend the reach of the Manta Ray-Nautilus-Neptune corridor in the central Gulf of Mexico. Today, natural gas deliveries available to Neptune already exceed its capacity of 300 MMcfd. Given current production levels and expected growth from Southern Green Canyon and future deepwater developments in the central Gulf, we are planning to expand our Neptune facility by adding another 300 MMcfd, enabling extraction of an incremental 25,000 b/d of NGLs."
After being processed at the Neptune plant, the gas will be redelivered into the Nautilus hub, operated by Marathon, which gives producers access to major consuming markets in the eastern and central US, as well as Louisiana markets. The hub has six interconnects with intrastate and interstate gas pipelines. A 250 MMcfd connection with Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. is expected to be completed by yearend.
