Capitalizing on heightened producer interest in natural gas liquids (NGL), MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC said Thursday it will expand its processing and fractionation capacity in the Marcellus Shale in support of recently reached agreements with producers.

The agreements include significant acreage dedications and other commitments, MarkWest Liberty said. The partnership will expand its Majorsville processing complex in northern West Virginia to process additional hydrocarbon-rich gas. The expansion is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2011 and will increase the cryogenic processing capacity at the Majorsville complex to approximately 270 MMcf/d.

The NGLs produced at the complex will be connected via pipeline to MarkWest Liberty’s Houston, PA, NGL complex. When combined with the processing facilities currently operating or under construction at the Houston complex, MarkWest Liberty’s total processing capacity in the Marcellus will be approximately 625 MMcf/d by the end of 2011.

In light of low gas prices, producers have turned more of their attention to NGLs, which get a lift in the market from more robust oil prices. Earlier this month Buckeye Partners LP said it garnered interest from producers wanting to move NGLs out of the Marcellus on its proposed Union Pipeline project (see Daily GPI, April 8).

Last month Enbridge announced plans for an NGL pipeline to carry Marcellus liquids to Chicago. The proposed pipeline would deliver into existing NGL infrastructure in the Chicago area, including the Aux Sable facility, which processes gas from Alliance Pipeline and fractionates NGLs from various supply sources, it said (see Daily GPI, March 23).

And last December Range Resources Corp. said completion of the third phase of a Marcellus Shale gas processing infrastructure expansion program had been completed, adding 120 MMcf/d of cryogenic processing capacity. The increased ability to process the rich Marcellus gas from southwestern Pennsylvania would improve the company’s netbacks, Range said (see Daily GPI, Dec. 15, 2009).

MarkWest Liberty also said it is expanding the design capacity of its fractionation facility at the Houston complex to 60,000 b/d. When combined with an existing 24,000 b/d fractionation, storage and marketing facility near Portsmouth, OH, MarkWest’s midstream offering in the Marcellus and Appalachian Basin will include nearly 85,000 b/d of fractionation, storage and marketing capacity, the partnership said.

“Since mid-2008 we have scaled rapidly to meet our customers’ requirements in the Marcellus,” said MarkWest Liberty CEO Frank Semple. “By the end of 2010 our joint venture with The Energy & Minerals Group will have invested more than $700 million to provide the critical midstream infrastructure necessary to economically develop the Marcellus and to meet our customers’ long-term needs.”

MarkWest Liberty is a partnership of MarkWest Energy Partners LP and The Energy & Minerals Group, which prior to March 15 was named Midstream & Resources Funds.

©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.