Teak Midstream LLC’s 200 MMcf/d Silver Oak cryogenic gas processing plant is now online in South Texas, along with 250 miles of gathering and residue delivery pipelines, the company said Tuesday.

Plans for the facilities were announced in February, and they had been scheduled to enter service during the third quarter (see Shale Daily, Feb. 23).

On Tuesday Teak also said it has executed long-term gathering and processing agreements with Comstock Resources Inc. and another “major” Eagle Ford Shale producer in support of the facilities. Teak signed contracts with anchor shippers Talisman Energy USA Inc. and Statoil Natural Gas LLC earlier this year.

Teak plans to expand the processing capacity on its system by 200 MMcf/d by the first quarter of 2014 based on volume commitments to date and increasing demand to process liquids-rich gas from the Eagle Ford, as well as from the Buda, Pearsall, Olmos and Escondido formations, the company said.

The Silver Oak facility is showing that it is capable of generating “some of the highest recoveries of natural gas liquids (NGL) from producers’ gas streams in South Texas,” Teak said. Silver Oak is near Pettus, TX, and is equipped with technology and equipment designed to handle higher concentrations of liquids-rich gas.

The facilities include two inlet high-pressure gas gathering systems. One system consists of 178 miles of 24-inch and 16-inch diameter pipeline with a capacity of 600 MMcf/d. This system originates in Dimmit County on the western edge of the Eagle Ford and moves rich gas east through Webb, La Salle, McMullen and Live Oak counties to Silver Oak, which is in Bee County. Teak jointly owns this gathering system with TexStar Midstream. The second system consists of 22 miles of 20-inch diameter pipeline with a capacity of 400 MMcf/d. This Teak-owned system gathers rich gas production from the Karnes County area for delivery to the Silver Oak plant.

The new pipeline system also includes 57 miles of 20-inch diameter residue gas pipeline that will deliver dry gas from the Silver Oak plant to six major downstream intrastate and interstate pipelines: Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Channel, Kinder-Tejas, Transco, Texas Eastern and NGPL. Additionally, Teak has constructed three miles of 12-inch diameter NGL pipeline to transport liquids recovered at Silver Oak to the DCP Sand Hills NGL pipeline. The Sand Hills pipeline ultimately delivers NGL to the Mont Belvieu, TX, fractionation complex and other fractionation facilities along the Gulf Coast.

“The increased demand for additional diverse, reliable midstream services in the Maverick Basin along the western edge of the Eagle Ford play prompted Teak and our partner TexStar Midstream to expand our jointly owned gathering system 45 miles further west beyond its original destination,” said Teak Co-CEO Jim Wales. “This project reflects the rapid growth of liquids-rich gas production in South Texas and now strategically positions our 200-mile gathering system across seven core producing counties.”

Last September Enterprise Products Partners LP started operation of the second 300 MMcf/d train at its Yoakum cryogenic processing plant in Lavaca County, TX, to handle production from the Eagle Ford (see Shale Daily, Sept. 11).