PITTSBURGH—EnLink Midstream is a major gathering, processing and transportation presence in the unconventional shale plays. But it has found things are just a little different serving the Marcellus and Utica, according to Kevin Hyatt, vice president for commercial and business development for the Dallas-based firm.
The two plays require diverse midstream services and EnLink has responded because it “anticipates continued growth in the Appalachian Basin,” he said, even if the current business climate remains weak.
Hyatt told attendees at Hart Energy’s Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conference & Exhibition held Jan. 26-28 that the regional differences are not entirely based on geography. Some of EnLink’s liquids-handling assets in Appalachia and along the Ohio River Valley have been in place for parts of three centuries, first entering service not long after the Civil War, he said. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust made Cleveland the refining center of the world in the 19th century when Standard Oil needed a midstream component—to use today’s term—of pipelines, railroads and barges to gather, store and process the region’s Pennsylvania-grade crude.
EnLink’s operations in the region are large but form only a portion of the firm’s 9,700 miles of pipeline, 19 gas processing plants, 3.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of gas processing capacity, seven NGL fractionators and 280,000 barrels per day (Mbbl/d) of NGL capacity, he noted.
The midstream operator entered the region in 2012 with an asset purchase “and we have more than doubled our investment in the last three years,” Hyatt added.
“It all begins with our truck fleet, also known as a pipeline on wheels,” Hyatt said, noting EnLink trucks serve more than 100 producers in the core Marcellus-Utica states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, as well as Kentucky and Tennessee. “Those customers have over 10,000 tanks that hold crude, brine and condensate.”
Volumes vary widely from producer to producer and EnLink must adjust to the needs of each upstream customer, he continued.
To serve them, EnLink now has more than 110 trucks, 200 miles of crude oil pipeline, 700 Mbbl of storage, a barge terminal on the Ohio River, a rail terminal in Ohio, seven gas compressors and crude stabilizers and eight brine disposal wells. It plans to add four more compression and stabilization plants, Hyatt said.
The compression and stabilization assets have a combined capacity of 780 MMcf/d of natural gas and 37 Mbbl/d of condensate.
In particular, EnLink has significantly expanded its barge fleet since entering the market, to 177 barges with 4.4 MMbbl of capacity in 2015, up from 39 in 2012.
“Our barges move production up and down the Ohio River, going as far south as the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Our rail customers go as far as Canada and eastern refiners along the Atlantic Coast,” Hyatt said.
“We’re committed to quality service and safety in this region, as shown by numerous industry awards,” Hyatt said, noting the company received recognition by Ohio as the state’s top barge operator.
“We’re proud of what we have accomplished in the last three years,” he said. “We have grown significantly and we expect to continue to grow as we reach more downstream markets.
“I have nothing but the highest respect for the producers, suppliers and vendors that are in this basin,” he continued. “And I have nothing but great optimism that Shale 2.0 will rise again and this will be one of the best basins; it will take off.”
Paul Hart can be reached at pdhart@hartenergy.com.
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