Williams Partners LP has ramped up operations on the fourth cryogenic processing train (TXP4) at the Echo Springs natural gas processing plant in Carbon County, WY.

The TXP4 plant adds about 350 MMcf/d of gas and 30,000 b/d of natural gas liquid (NGL) production, roughly doubling Echo Springs’ capacity in both cases, the partnership said.

“This new expansion at Echo Springs adds even greater scale to our significant operations in the Rockies,” said Alan Armstrong, president of Williams’ midstream business. “This expansion is also highly complementary with our 50% stake in Overland Pass Pipeline,” a joint venture with ONEOK Partners LP (see Daily GPI, Sept. 10).

“With our NGL equity volumes from our Wyoming facilities and Willow Creek dedicated to Overland Pass, it will benefit from this expansion and any future expansions in the Piceance Basin,” Armstrong said.

Current gathered volumes from the Echo Springs plant exceed 475 MMcf/d and are expected to grow with producer drilling plans. The expansion would give the partnership the ability to process currently flowing bypass gas as well as the ability to process expected future increases in third-party gas production, it said.

Including the latest expansion, Williams Partners’ Opal and Echo Springs processing plants in Wyoming have a combined inlet capacity of more than 2.1 Bcf/d of gas and 130,000 b/d of NGL production capacity.

©Copyright 2010Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.