Kinder Morgan, Targa partner to expand fractionation capacity in Texas
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Targa Resources Partners LP signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture to construct new natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation facilities at Mont Belvieu, Texas, to provide services for producers in the Utica and Marcellus shales.
To allow producers and shippers sufficient time to assess their Gulf Coast fractionation and pipeline needs, a binding open season is now underway for the Utica Marcellus Texas Pipeline (UMTP), a proposed joint venture between MarkWest Utica EMG LLC and Kinder Morgan. The binding open season will be extended until Feb. 28, 2014.
The UMTP will involve the abandonment and conversion, subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval, of more than 1,000 miles of Kinder Morgan’s existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline system, currently in natural gas service, from Mercer, Pa., to Natchitoches, La. In addition, the UMTP will involve building about 200 miles of new pipeline from Natchitoches to Mont Belvieu. The new fractionation facilities will be located adjacent to Targa’s existing facilities at Mont Belvieu and provide fractionation services for customers of UMTP of up to about 150,000 barrels per day (bpd). According to a press release, the facilities will potentially serve up to 400,000 bpd of maximum pipeline capacity over time.