Phillips 66 has commissioned a second natural gas processing plant at the Dos Picos gas gathering system and processing complex in Midland County, Tex., as part of the operator’s ongoing expansion of its Midland basin operations.
Configured with advanced ethane-extraction capabilities and equipped with a cryogenic gas processing capacity of 220 MMcfd, the Dos Picos II plant entered operation in late July, Phillips 66 said.
Part of its Midland basin growth strategy following acquisition of Pinnacle Midland Parent LLC’s midstream assets in 2024, Phillips 66 said Dos Picos II helps further strengthen the company’s integrated value chain by enabling increased NGL capture and flow from the wellhead through midstream systems for subsequent transfer to Phillips 66-owned fractionation and export assets.
The Dos Picos II plant joins an existing 220-MMcfd plant at the Midland complex to boost overall processing capacity at the site to 440 MMcfd.
Additional growth plans
Confirmation of Dos Picos II’s startup follows Phillips 66’s taking of final investment decision earlier this year on an additional project to expand its natural gas processing capacity in the Permian basin.
As part of its NGL wellhead-to-market strategy, Phillips 66 will build the new 300-MMcfd Iron Mesa gas processing plant near the company’s existing 160-MMcfd gas plant in Goldsmith, Ector County, Tex., about 15 miles northwest of Odessa.
Given Phillips 66’s NGL pipeline system in the region, the proposed plant’s location will allow for gathering and processing of feedstock from both the Midland and Delaware basins of the Permian, as well as enable improvements to the Goldsmith plant that will include retiring portions of the existing plant and upgrading its processing performance.
Scheduled for startup during first-quarter 2027, the planned Iron Mesa plant and upgrades at Goldsmith will result in enhanced operational efficiencies and reliability to improve Phillip 66’s overall cost structure in the region, the company said.
