I believe the Markwest (MWE) joint venture with Gulfport is very bullish news for GPOR. - Dan
MWE joint venture enters into definitive agreements
with producer GPOR to build midstream
infrastructure in the Utica Shale. MarkWest Utica
EMG, LLC (a midstream joint venture between MWE and
The Energy and Minerals Group in the Utica Shale in
eastern Ohio) entered into agreements to develop natural
gas/NGL gathering processing, fractionation and
marketing services in the southern Utica Shale as the first
step in its Utica development plan. Under the
agreements, the JV will develop gas gathering mainly in
Harrison, Guernsey and Belmont counties, with 60 miles
of pipeline and associated compression by 2012
year-end and 140 miles of pipeline by 1Q 2014.
Processing, fractionation and marketing will be provided
at the JV’s Harrison County complex, where NGL purity
products will be marketed by truck, rail and pipeline. The
JV will begin 40 MMcf/d of interim refrigeration
processing capacity at Harrison by 3Q 2012, followed by
the 125 MMCf/d Harrison I cryogenic facility (1Q 2013)
and an additional 200 MMcf/d of cryogenic capacity
(2013). The JV is also developing a second processing
complex in Noble County, with 45 MMcf/d of interim
refrigeration capacity by 4Q 2012, followed by an
additional 200 MMcf/d cryogenic plant (mid-2013). Both
Harrison and Noble processing capacity will be
connected through an NGL gathering system to the
Harrison fractionation facilities (100 MBPD of C2+
capacity by 1Q 2014), which will connect to MWE’s
Houston fractionation complex through an expansion
MWE’s Marcellus Shale NGL gathering system. The
Houston and Harrison facilities will be the largest
fractionation facilities in the northeast.