Crestwood Equity Partners LP expects the higher commodity prices that drove increased drilling and completion activity in the second quarter of 2021 to fuel even higher utilization of its assets in core areas for the remainder of the year.

Crestwood assets

The Houston-based midstreamer’s gathering and processing (G&P) segment, which was hit hardest during last year’s Covid-induced doldrums, “has been carrying us this year with a strong pickup,” according to CEO Bob Phillips. He told investors on the 2Q2021 earnings call Tuesday that results in the Bakken and Barnett shales, Powder River Basin and Permian Delaware sub-basin are solid. Crestwood is seeing “better-than-expected producer activity as a result.”

In the Bakken, producer customers “are finally seeing a significant positive...