Cardinal Midstream III LLC said Feb. 7 it is developing the Iron Horse System, a new natural gas gathering and processing system designed to serve producers working in Oklahoma’s Scoop/Stack/Merge play.

Located in Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin, the liquids-rich play targets multiple benches within the Woodford and Mississippian pay zones, with upside from additional horizons.

Construction of the gathering system is underway, and Cardinal expects to commission the system’s first natural gas processing plant in the third-quarter of 2018. The Iron Horse System is anchored by a long-term acreage dedication from Travis Peak Resources LLC.

Cardinal III is in discussions with other producers in the area to bring gas onto the Iron Horse System. Supported by a capital commitment of $250 million from EnCap Flatrock Midstream, Cardinal III is the third company the Cardinal management team has formed in partnership with EnCap Flatrock Midstream and follows the previous successes of Cardinal Midstream I and Cardinal Midstream II.

“We are committed to meeting operators’ growing needs across the play with a rapid build-out of our system,” Doug Dormer, Cardinal’s chairman and CEO, said.

Cardinal’s initial Iron Horse System will span Canadian, Grady, Caddo and McClain counties. The first phase of the system will consist of more than 100 miles of high- and low-pressure natural gas gathering pipeline, multiple compressor stations and the Iron Horse cryogenic gas processing plant with the capacity to process 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (MMcf/d).

The team at Honeywell’s UOP Russell division designed and fabricated the plant to meet Cardinal’s requirements for an efficient and predictable installation schedule, reliable runtime and increased NGL recoveries from the area’s gas stream.

Located in Grady County, the Iron Horse Plant site is designed to accommodate additional expansions that would bring total processing capacity to 600 MMcf/d to serve production growth.