MarkWest Energy Partners, Denver, will install more processing at Mobley in Wetzel County, W.Va.
The 200-MMcfd Mobley 3 gas plant will join two other plants under construction there and serve development of rich-gas acreage in the Marcellus shale by EQT Corp., Pittsburgh, and other producers, said the company statement. MarkWest has underpinned the new plant with long-term, fee-based contracts.
This month, MarkWest expects to finish building its 200-MMcfd Mobley 1 plant, which is supported by rich-gas development of EQT, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., Houston, and other producers (OGJ, May 7, 2012, p. 88).
EQT gas will flow to the plant by pipelines owned and operated by subsidiaries of EQT. Magnum Hunter Resources’ gas will arrive by pipelines owned and operated by Eureka Hunter Pipeline LLC, a unit of Magnum Hunter Resources. Both pipeline systems will also deliver third-party gas to Mobley.
The second, 120-MMcfd plant will begin operating by first-quarter 2013, taking rich gas from Magnum Hunter Resources and other third parties. MarkWest’s planned construction of Mobley 3 targets completion in fourth-quarter 2013.
When all plants are operating, Mobley will be able to process about 520 MMcfd.
According to MarkWest, NGLs recovered at Mobley will be fractionated and marketed at MarkWest’s 60,000-b/d Houston, Pa., plant in Washington County. Mobley NGLs will move to Houston through MarkWest’s Marcellus NGL gathering system (OGJ, May 7, 2012, p. 104).
By mid-2013, the company says will add C2 extraction capacity by completing 78,000 b/d of combined de-ethanization at Majorsville, W.Va., and Houston.
“Ethane recovered by MarkWest will have access to all of the planned ethane pipeline projects” that will originate from its Houston complex, said the announcement.