Oneok completes NGL pipeline, gas processing, E-P splitter

April 23, 2014
Oneok Partners LP has completed three natural gas gathering and processing and NGL projects, including the 540-mile, 16-in. OD Sterling III NGL pipeline. Oneok also finished its 200-MMcfd Canadian Valley natural gas processing plant and related infrastructure in the Cana-Woodford shale and an ethane-propane splitter at its Mont Belvieu, Tex., storage site.

Oneok Partners LP has completed three natural gas gathering and processing and NGL projects, including the 540-mile, 16-in. OD Sterling III NGL pipeline. Oneok also finished its 200-MMcfd Canadian Valley natural gas processing plant and related infrastructure in the Cana-Woodford shale and an ethane-propane splitter at its Mont Belvieu, Tex., storage site.

The Sterling III pipeline can ship 193,000 b/d of either unfractionated NGLs or NGL purity products from Oneok’s NGL infrastructure at Medford, Okla., to its storage and fractionation at Mont Belvieu. Oneok can expand the pipeline to 250,000 b/d if needed (OGJ Online, July 27, 2012). The company is reconfiguring its existing Sterling I and II pipelines to transport either unfractionated NGLs or NGL purity products, and expects to complete this work later this quarter.

Oneok described Sterling III as providing needed transportation capacity to the growing Cana-Woodford shale and Granite Wash production areas. Sterling III and these reconfigurations cost $760-790 million.

The Canadian Valley gas processing plant connects to Oneok’s natural gas and NGL pipelines and increases its gas processing capacity in Oklahoma to 700 MMcfd. The plant cost $340-360 million.

Oneok’s 40,000-bpd E-P splitter at Mont Belvieu can produce 32,000 b/d of purity ethane and 8,000 b/d of propane. It cost $46 million.

These completed projects are part of Oneok’s previously announced $6-6.4 billion capital-growth program through 2016. It also has a $2-3 billion or greater backlog of unannounced growth projects in development.