Lucid Energy Group announced Tuesday the start-up of a 200 MMcf/d cryogenic natural gas processing expansion at its Red Hills complex in Lea County, NM, adding that it remains on schedule to bring another new plant online in the state early next year to serve more activity in the Permian Basin.

The privately held company announced its plans to expand the Red Hills facility last year, when it absorbed a suite of assets serving the Permian’s Delaware sub-basin in a deal to acquire Agave Energy Co.

The second plant increases the complex’s capacity to 310 MMcf/d, and expands the broader South Carlsbad Gas Gathering and Processing System in Lea and Eddy counties, NM, it acquired in the Agave deal to 345 MMcf/d. The system serves producers developing the Wolfcamp, Bone Spring and Avalon formations of the Delaware.

The Red Hills expansion was commissioned slightly ahead of the mid-2017 timeline the company first announced last September when it acquired Agave.

Lucid also said it remains on schedule to complete the Roadrunner cryogenic processing facility, a 200 MMcf/d plant to the west of Red Hills in Eddy County. With a target in-service date of January, Roadrunner would again expand the South Carlsbad system to 545 MMcf/d.

Lucid, the largest private midstream operator in the Permian, has worked to stay ahead of producers that have flocked to the play in recent years. It has more than 930 MMcf/d of gas processing capacity in operation or under construction and pipeline assets of more than 3,600 miles that serve the Midland and Delaware sub-basins.