Midstream operator Atlas Pipeline Partners LP said late Wednesday it will construct a 120 MMcf/d cryogenic natural gas processing plant in Beckham County, OK. The Sweetwater gas plant will be located west of the Atlas Elk City gas plant, and is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2006.

The new plant, said Atlas, will provide access to production in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. Sweetwater and related gathering infrastructure are expected to cost $40 million and generate cash flow of $8-10 million annually.

“This expansion continues our growth in the active Midcontinent region and further expands on our successful acquisition of Elk City, which was completed in April 2005,” said CEO Edward E. Cohen. “As we anticipated, drilling activity has continued to increase in the region, which provides the Partnership with opportunities to organically grow our system.”

Atlas paid Energy Transfer $190 million for the Elk City plant last March (see Daily GPI, March 10). Total gas throughput, including approximately 118 MMcf/d processed at the Elk City plant, is currently 262 MMcf/d.

Atlas owns and operates 2,200 miles of gas gathering pipeline, and it transports 320 MMcf/d from more than 880 receipt points or wells to its gas processing and treating facilities in Velma, Elk City and Prentiss, OK. In Appalachia, it owns and operates more than 1,440 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines in western Pennsylvania, western New York and eastern Ohio to which more than 4,850 wells are currently connected, and it gathers 58 MMcf/d from these wells.

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