Newfield's Eagle Ford Production Is Set to Surge at Year-end

December 4, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Newfield Exploration's Eagle Ford production grew 9% from the second quarter to the third quarter to average 8,200 boe/d. Fourth quarter production is expected to surge to more than 12,000 boe/d as well pads in the West Asherton area come online.

Growth in the last few months of the year puts Newfield on pace to grow production 70% year over year. The company's production is approximately 56% oil, 19% NGLs, and 24% natural gas.

Newfield is drilling horizontal laterals that range from 5,000-10,000 ft in the West Asherton Field in Dimmit County and has been able to drive well costs down approximately 20% to $7.3 million.

“We have even greater confidence in our ability to hit our corporate level targets and we intend to deliver on our promise of doubling liquids production from our four key plays by the end of 2015.”

— Lee K. Boothby, CEO

Newfield Plans Fewer Wells, but Strong Growth in 2014

Newfield lowered its operated rig count from two to one in the third quarter.

The company plans to drill fewer wells next year, 20 in 2014 compared to 36 in 2013, but still expects play-wide production to grow 30%.

Read the company's third quarter press release at newfield.com

Enterprise Completes 7th NGL Fractionator at Mont Belvieu

September 26, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Mont Belvieu Factionator — Mont Belvieu Fractionator

Enterprise Products brought its seventh fractionator online at the company's Mont Belvieu Complex earlier in September.

The new unit adds 85,000 b/d of fractionation capacity and expands the company's capacity at Mont Belvieu to 570,000 b/d. An eighth plant will be online at the end of the year and will add another 85,000 b/d of capacity.

NGL fractionation capacity is important for shale plays like the Eagle Ford where high BTU gas is produced. Without fractionation capacity, the value of the individual NGL components, ethane, propane, butane, etc., can not be extracted from a mixed stream of NGLs.

“Our eighth fractionator is also running ahead of schedule and should be in-service by mid-fourth quarter 2013. Fractionators seven and eight will increase total capacity at the partnership’s Mont Belvieu complex to 655,000 BPD, compared to 400,000 BPD just three years ago.”

— Michael A. Creel, CEO

Enterprise operates the units and Western Gas owns a 25% interest in the 7th and 8th fractionators at Mont Belvieu.

Read the full press release enterpriseproducts.com

Sand Hills NGL Pipeline In Service & Moving Permian & Eagle Ford Liquids

June 24, 2013 R.T. Dukes

DCP Sand Hills Pipeline Map - Eagle Ford Segment

The Sand Hills NGL Pipeline is online and taking NGLs from the Permian & Eagle Ford regions to fractionation facilities in the Gulf Coast and near Mont Belvieu.

The pipeline is 720 miles and runs from West Texas, near Midland, into South Texas on to Mont Belvieu. The pipeline will have initial capacity of 200,000 b/d and could be expanded to 350,000 b/d if needed.

“Sand Hills and Southern Hills provide a solution to the critical need for vital transportation capacity from key liquids producing regions,” said Wouter van Kempen, CEO.

DCP has a total of 1.3 bcf/d of processing capacity in the Permian and will have 1.2 bcf/d of capacity in the Eagle Ford once the Goliad Plant is completed in early 2014.

The Sand Hills in service was announced in conjunction with the in service of the Southern Hills NGL pipeline that moves liquids from the Midcontinent region to the Gulf Coast.

Read the full press release at dcpmidstream.com

DCP's Sand Hills Pipeline Moving Eagle Ford NGLs to Mont Belvieu

October 26, 2012 R.T. Dukes

DCP's Sand Hills Pipeline has started servicing the Eagle Ford Shale. The company is opening the 720 mile pipeline that runs from the Permian Basin to Mont Belvieu (East of Houston) in segments. The next segment connects directly to Mont Belvieu and will be open by the end of 2012. Construction tying in the Permian Basin will be finished mid-2013.

“When finished, Sand Hills Pipeline will be a major link between the liquids-rich Eagle Ford and Permian producing regions and growing Gulf Coast markets,” said Tom O'Connor, chairman and chief executive officer of DCP Midstream. “With Sand Hills, we can offer an integrated NGL takeaway solution to producers, who will enjoy reliable one-stop service. Sand Hills adds to our well positioned assets in the Permian and Eagle Ford producing regions.”

When finished, the Sand Hills Pipeline will be 720 miles of 20-inch pipe with capacity of 200,000 barrels per day of NGLs and will have the ability to expand to 350,000 b/dif needed. DCP is projecting it will spend $1 billion on the pipeline and offers three strategic reasons for constructing the pipeline:

Provides critical capacity and NGL transport from South Texas and the Permian Basin
Capitalizes on increased Eagle Ford growth
Improves reliability of the overall NGL network

Kinder Morgan - KKR Announce Midstream Deal for Camino Real and Altamont Assets

April 26, 2012 R.T. Dukes

Kinder Morgan is acquiring KKR's 50% interest in a joint-venture with El Paso that controls gathering and processing assets in Utah and the Eagle Ford Shale for $300 million. The deal is a precursor to the $20+ billion Kinder Morgan - El Paso acquisition that will close in May. At closing of both deals, Kinder will own 100% of the two systems. Both systems were in place to help gather and process El Paso's upstream oil and gas production in the areas. The Camino Real System in South Texas has capacity of 150 mmcf/d and 110,000 b/d. The Altamont system is larger and includes over 1,000 miles of pipelines, a processing plant, and a natural gas fractionator.

With over 1,100 miles of pipeline infrastructure, the Altamont system includes over 450 well connections with producers, and it operates a processing plant with the design capacity of 60 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) and a 5,600 barrel per day (Bpd) natural gas liquids fractionator. The Camino Real Gathering System has 150 MMcf/d of gas gathering capacity and 110,000 Bpd of oil gathering capacity.

Read the entire news release at kindermorgan.com