Gas Daily (08-Aug-11)
Construction is expected to start this month on a natural gas liquids separation plant - also known as a cracker- in Natrium, West Virginia, a Dominion Resources spokesman said Thursday.
The first phase includes facilities that can process 200,000 Mcf/d and fractionate 36,000 barrels of NGLs per day, the company said. This phase is more than 90% contracted and is expected to be in service by December 2012.
The plant will be located about nine miles north of New Martinsville. It will connect to Dominion's TL-404 pipeline in Ohio and West Virginia that was recently converted to handle wet gas.
The company said in its latest quarterly report that the first phase is expected to cost about $500 million.
Thomas Farrell II, chairman and CEO of Dominion, said the company may expand the plant to process 400,000 Mcf/d and fractionate 59,000 barrels/d of NGLs.
Dominion said the project is in response to the need for additional processing and fractionation capacity in the region. The rising price of oil and the low price of natural gas have shifted drilling activity from the dry-gas to wet-gas areas as producers look to capture the economic value of NGLs.
Gary Sypolt, CEO of subsidiary Dominion Energy, said the firm "will have the capability to access production in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions and ship products via barge, rail, truck and pipe, thus offering significant value to producers."
Staff
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