Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) and Targa Resources Partners LP have formed a joint venture to construct natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation facilities at Mont Belvieu, TX, to serve producers in the Utica and Marcellus shale. The project is intended to complement a proposed NGL pipeline, the Utica Marcellus Texas Pipeline (UMTP). A binding open season currently under way for UMTP, a proposed joint venture of MarkWest Utica EMG LLC and KMP (see Shale Daily, Aug. 9), has been extended until Feb. 28. UMTP will involve the abandonment and conversion, subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval, of more than 1,000 miles of KMP’s existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline system, currently in natural gas service, from Mercer, PA, to Natchitoches, LA, and building approximately 200 miles of pipeline from Natchitoches to Mont Belvieu for fractionation. “The joint venture with Targa will provide our NGL pipeline customers with a fully integrated NGL solution from the tailgate of their processing plants in Utica and Marcellus to the ultimate consumer of the purity products along the Gulf Coast,” said Don Lindley, president of NGLs for KMP.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has signed up for capacity on a pipeline expansion project to move more crude oil from the Eagle Ford Shale to Corpus Christi and the Houston Ship Channel. Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate LLC (KMCC) and Double Eagle Pipeline LLC, which is a joint venture of Magellan Midstream Partners LP and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP), said Double Eagle will construct 160,000 bbl of storage capacity and a pump station at Gardendale, TX, and a 10-mile pipeline to connect the Double Eagle Pipeline and the KMCC Pipeline in Karnes County, TX. Double Eagle will transport product from its new Gardendale station to the KMCC Helena station in Karnes County. KMCC will construct 240,000 bbl of storage at the Helena Station to move crude and condensate from the Double Eagle Pipeline to KMCC delivery points. The construction is expected to be complete in early 2015. “We believe connecting the Double Eagle and KMCC systems will offer unique flexibility for Anadarko and other Eagle Ford producers to access both the Corpus Christi and Houston-area markets,” said Don Lindley, KMP president of natural gas liquids. The Double Eagle Pipeline includes 140 miles of new 12-inch diameter pipeline connecting to an existing 50-mile, 14- and 16-inch diameter pipeline segment owned by Kinder Morgan from Three Rivers, TX, to Magellan’s marine and storage terminal in Corpus Christi, TX. The initial capacity of the pipeline is 100,000 b/d.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP‘s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC (TGP) completed a binding open season for incremental, north-to-south gas transportation capacity on the TGP system totaling 500,000 Dth/d. During the open season (see Shale Daily, Nov. 21), 400,000 Dth/d of long-term capacity and 100,000 Dth/d of short-term capacity was awarded to six different shippers. The capacity will provide firm service for Marcellus and Utica production from receipt points as far north as Mercer, PA, for delivery to multiple points on the Gulf Coast. Capital of the project is expected to be about $150 million. “Capacity bids were for volumes well in excess of the capacity offered and TGP will be evaluating further capacity expansions,” the pipeline said. “…[T]he results of the open season…indicate that demand for clean, efficient natural gas is continuing to drive production growth in the Utica, Marcellus and other shale resource plays…” said Kinder Morgan’s Kimberly Watson, east region natural gas pipeline president. “The capacity subscribed in this open season also supports continued growth in Gulf Coast consumption markets and provides more supply for Gulf Coast end-uses, including processing, fractionation and liquefaction.”

NGL Supply Terminal Co. LLC, a subsidiary of NGL Energy Partners LP, has completed the acquisition of natural gas liquid (NGL) assets fromKeyera Energy Inc. The assets include four rail-to-truck propane terminal facilities and related equipment located in New Mexico, Montana and Washington. The terminals have a combined propane storage capacity of 640,000 gallons with the ability to move up to 100 million gallons annually. The acquisition boosts NGL Supply’s portfolio to 22 propane and butane terminal facilities across the U.S.

National Fuel Gas Supply Corp.has secured contracts for all the available transport capacity on its Northern Access 2015 and Westside expansion and modernization pipeline projects. Northern Access is being upgraded for $67 million in conjunction with Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.’s (TGP) Niagara expansion. With an in-service date of Nov. 2015, together the lines will deliver Marcellus Shale gas to an interconnect at the Canadian border. National has leased 140 MMcf/d of Northern Access transport capacity to TGP for 15 years. National also has two agreements for the entire 175 MMcf/d of transport capacity on its $74 million West Side project in southwest Pennsylvania with Range Resources Corp. and affiliated E&P Seneca Resources Corp. West Side will provide the operators with access to TGP and Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline systems in southwest Pennsylvania in 2015.