MarkWest Energy Partners, Denver, has begun operations at the first of three planned Mobley gas processing plants in Wetzel County, W.Va. The 200-MMcfd plant processes rich-gas production from the Marcellus shale by EQT Corp., Pittsburgh, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., Houston, and other producers.
The Mobley plant is currently operating at about 60% capacity, says the company, but will continue grow as it handles the drilling continues in the area.
MarkWest expects to complete construction of its second, 120-MMcfd Mobley plant during first-quarter 2013. By fourth-quarter 2013, it will bring online a third, 200-MMcfd plant.
When all plants are operating, the Mobley complex will be able to process about 520 MMcfd in the wet-gas fairway of northern West Virginia. NGLs recovered at Mobley move by MarkWest’s NGL gathering network to the 60,000-b/d Houston fractionator in Washington County, Pa.