MarkWest Utica EMG LLC, a joint venture between MarkWest Energy Partners LP and The Energy and Minerals Group has announced definitive agreements with Rex Energy Corporation to provide gathering, processing, fractionation, and marketing services in the Utica shale.

MarkWest Utica EMG expects to begin gathering and processing Rex's liquid-rich gas production in approximately June of this year. To support Rex and other Utica producers, MarkWest Utica EMG is constructing an extensive gathering system, two large- scale processing complexes and a C2+ fractionation and marketing complex by early 2014. When completed, the fractionation facility will be connected by an NGL pipeline to MarkWest’s extensive NGL infrastructure in the Marcellus shale and to its Houston, Pennsylvania complex, the largest fractionation and marketing facility in the Northeast. The large-scale and fully-integrated midstream system will provide significant flexibility and redundancy for Rex and other producer customers operating in the core liquids-rich area of the Utica shale.

“We are excited to further expand our relationship with Rex as they develop their highly-prospective acreage in the Utica Shale,” Frank Semple, chairman, president and chief executive of MarkWest, said in a release. “Rex is a proven operator with extensive experience in the development of unconventional resource plays and this agreement further supports the build out of our midstream infrastructure in the Utica Shale.”