MarkWest Energy Partners LP announced it safely resumed Plant III operations at its processing and fractionation facility in Houston, Pa. The complex includes three processing plants with a total production capacity of 355 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) and 98,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of ethane and heavier fractionation capacity. Plant III, which has a processing capacity of 200 MMcf/d, has been offline since May 28th when the facility’s heat exchanger was damaged. During the plant’s repair period, MarkWest used its large, high-pressure, rich-gas header system to route gas to the Majorsville complex in Marshall County, W.Va., for processing.
In the Utica Shale, MarkWest Utica EMG LLC, a joint venture between MarkWest and The Energy and Minerals Group (EMG), is in startup mode for its third cryogenic processing plant at the Seneca complex in Noble County, Ohio. The Seneca III plant has a 200 MMcf/d processing capacity and will increase total processing capacity at the complex to 600 MMcf/d. The Seneca complex is supported by long-term, fee-based contracts with Antero Resources Corp., Gulfport Energy Corp., Rex Energy Corp., PDC Energy Inc. and other producers. MarkWest Utica EMG plans to continue expansion at the Seneca complex and expects to complete a fourth 200 MMcf/d plant in second-quarter 2015.
MarkWest Utica EMG also expanded its Cadiz complex in Harrison County, Ohio, where a 40,000 bbl/d de-ethanizer was completed. Ethane produced at the new Cadiz facility will be delivered to Enterprise Products Partners’ ATEX pipeline. Additionally, during third-quarter 2014, the Cadiz II plant will begin operation and increase total cryogenic processing capacity at the complex to 325 MMcf/d.
The expansions bring the total number of MarkWest’s completed major infrastructure projects in the last two years to 25, totaling more than 3 billion cubic feet per day of processing capacity and about 200,000 bbl/d of fractionation capacity, primarily in the Marcellus and Utica shales. MarkWest plans to complete five more projects in the Northeast during the remainder of 2014 and is building eight additional projects scheduled to begin operations in 2015 and beyond.
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