Crestwood Equity Partners LP has renegotiated extended long-term contracts with producers and shippers as it launches operations at the 120 MMcf/d Bear Den II natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plant in Watford City, ND.

During its start-up phase, Bear Den II is processing roughly 65 MMcf/d and should ramp up to 100% capacity by the end of September.

Crestwood also brought online a 27,500 hp compression facility, as well as expansions to the Bear Den West and Bear Den Loop pipelines that connect the processing facilities to the Arrow gathering system, which consists of 740 miles of pipe and 150 MMcf/d of processing capacity.

The expansion should contribute to “higher gas capture percentages across the Arrow system” and reduce “emissions on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and in the state of North Dakota,” said Crestwood CEO Robert Phillips.

Crestwood commissioned initial activity for the 30 MMcf/d Bear Den Phase 1 expansion and ramped activity in 2018. The second phase start up marks the realization of several expansion projects designed to alleviate the gas gathering and processing plant bottleneck in North Dakota, where gas flaring has fallen short of state regulatory mandates.

The Bear Den processing complex has downstream connections to Northern Border Pipeline for residue gas and would connect to Oneok Inc.’s Elk Creek NGL pipeline for increased NGL takeaway capacity.

Crestwood said the project is underpinned by long-term contracts with Bruin E&P Partners LLC, Enerplus Resources Fund, PetroShale Inc., QEP Resources Inc., Rimrock Oil & Gas Inc., WPX Energy Inc. and XTO Energy Inc.