Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. announced it enteredinto a letter of intent yesterday to purchase Conoco’s 50% interestin the Jameson processing plant and the associated 2,600-mile gasgathering system for an undisclosed sum. The plant, located in WestTexas, is currently owned evenly by Conoco and Mitchell.

The Jameson plant, located in Coke County, has a processingcapacity of 65 MMcf/d of natural gas and 10,000 barrels of NGLs.Currently, the plant is processing 43 MMcf/d of natural gas andmaking 7,500 b/d of NGLs.

Allen J. Tarbutton, Jr., president of Mitchell’s gas servicesdivision, said, “This acquisition adds quality assets at a timewhen NGL demand is increasing dramatically. The additional 3,700b/d of NGLs that we gain will boost our overall daily production toaround 50,000 barrels.”

The move was announced just days after Mitchell said it wouldincrease its capital budget by over 20% due to increased earnings inthe second quarter of this year (see Daily GPI, Sept. 3). The company has a history ofbuying assets in West Texas, including a 1998 purchase of Texas Gas’North Texas gathering and processing facilities and Western GasResources’ Perkins/Noel gathering system in West Central Texas for $31million.

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