Christopher E. Smith
OGJ Pipeline Editor
HOUSTON, June 17 -- Eagle Ford Gathering LLC, a 50-50 joint venture of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Copano Energy LLC, reached a long-term agreement with Williams Partners LP to process Eagle Ford shale production at Williams Partners' Markham processing plant in Matagorda County, Tex. EFG will construct a 7-mile, 20-in. OD lateral to connect its previously announced crossover pipeline project to the Markham plant and install 3,400 hp of compression.
The agreement will initially provide EFG with 100 MMcfd of processing capacity at the Markham plant, with an option to increase to 200 MMcfd. KMEP described the agreement as augmenting a previously announced agreement with Formosa Hydrocarbons Co., resulting in as much as 375 MMcfd of total processing capacity through the crossover project.
Copano said the venture’s 117-mile, 30-in. and 24-in. OD system through McMullen, La Salle, Dimmit, and Webb counties is nearing completion and is scheduled to enter service in September, processing JV gas at Copano's Houston Central complex in Colorado County via KMEP’s Laredo-to-Katy pipeline.
Copano announced plans to expand its Houston Central plant by 400 MMcfd of cryogenic processing in April. The expansion will bring total processing capacity at Houston Central to 1.1 bcfd (OGJ Online, Apr. 19, 2011).
KMEP said it expects to break ground on the crossover pipeline in July and place it in service in this year’s fourth quarter, with total pipeline and compression costs estimated at $27 million.
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].