Fractionation

MarkWest Energy Partners LP on Tuesday agreed to extend its natural gas liquids (NGL) gathering pipeline in northwest Pennsylvania to accommodate the start-up later this year of XTO Energy Inc.’s midstream processing plant in Butler County, PA.

Dominion Resources has formed new unit Dominion NGL Pipelines, which is soliciting interest in a new pipeline that would carry ethane from the tailgate of a new processing plant being built by Dominion near Natrium, WV, to an interconnect with Enterprise Products Partners LP’s planned Appalachia to Texas Express (Atex Express) pipeline near Follansbee, WV.

Williams Partners LP (WPZ) agreed late Tuesday to expand its business venture in the Utica Shale with Caiman Energy II by funding almost half of a midstream infrastructure development in Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania.

The price for Utica Shale acreage is rising at a surprising clip if a lease agreement signed this week by the Board of Commissioners of Columbiana County, OH, and an agent for Chesapeake Energy Corp. is any indication.

With the Marcellus and Utica shale ethane situation under control for the moment, propane is becoming the next natural gas liquid (NGL) to trouble producers in Appalachia.

Shale and liquids-rich production will be the primary focus for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. this year, with dry natural gas efforts receiving less than 10% of its 2012 exploration and production budget, the Houston-based company said Tuesday.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the state would be prudent in developing the Marcellus and Utica shales, maintaining tough environmental regulations while looking to attract jobs and investment.

A natural gas processing and fractionation plant, which is being built along the Ohio River in Natrium, WV, to serve producers in the Marcellus and Utica shales, is 90% contracted and should be in service by the end of 2012, Dominion said Thursday.

Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) will “significantly expand” its Rich Eagle Ford Mainline (REM) project in South Texas and construct a processing facility in Jackson County, TX, to accommodate more than 540,000 MMBtu/d of new commitments for long-term fee-based services from multiple producers, the partnership said Thursday.