Enterprise Announces Agreements and Pipeline Expansion in Barnett Shale Area of North Texas
Thursday, August 28th 2008
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. announced that its affiliates have signed new long-term agreements with major producers in the Barnett Shale region that will utilize approximately 900 million cubic feet per day of capacity on the partnership’s 1.1 billion cubic feet per day (“Bcfd”) Sherman Extension natural gas pipeline. The partnership also announced that it will construct a pipeline that will transport new supplies of natural gas produced from the Barnett Shale in Tarrant and Denton Counties, Texas to the Sherman Extension pipeline.
The 178-mile Sherman Extension is a major expansion of Enterprise’s Texas intrastate natural gas pipeline system that provides additional transportation capacity for production from the Barnett Shale and North Texas region. The Sherman Extension traverses from an interconnect with a major pipeline segment of Enterprise’s Texas intrastate system in Erath County, Texas to Grayson County, Texas, where it will connect to the Gulf Crossing interstate pipeline. Producers can utilize the Sherman Extension to reach natural gas markets in the Southeast United States and to markets in the Midwest and Northeast through connections with other interstate pipelines. Producers can also utilize the Sherman Extension to access Texas markets and, through connections with interstate pipelines, to natural gas markets in the western United States. The Sherman Extension is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008.
To accommodate growing natural gas production from the Barnett Shale, Enterprise will build a new 40-mile supply lateral that will extend from the Trinity River Basin north of Arlington to an interconnect with the Sherman Extension pipeline near Justin, Texas. This new pipeline will consist of 30-inch and 36-inch diameter pipeline designed to provide up to 1 Bcfd of natural gas takeaway capacity for producers in Tarrant and Denton counties. This new pipeline will also have a lateral to provide transportation services for natural gas produced from the Newark East field in Wise County. These new pipelines are anchored by long-term agreements with major producers and are expected to be in service in the third quarter of 2009.
“We are pleased to announce these latest developments,” said Michael A. Creel, president and chief executive officer of Enterprise. “The Barnett Shale continues to exceed expectations. Production from the Barnett Shale currently exceeds 4 Bcfd and is expected to increase to approximately 6 Bcfd by 2011. We believe the Sherman Extension and the pipeline lateral into the Trinity River Basin will provide producers valuable transportation capacity for their production. Given the expected growth in the region, we are evaluating the need to expand the Sherman Extension beyond its current planned capacity of 1.1 Bcfd.”
In August 2008, Enterprise completed a 42-mile section of the Sherman Extension from Erath County to Parker County, Texas and commenced interim transportation service on the Sherman Extension to markets utilizing Enterprise’s Texas intrastate system.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships with an enterprise value of approximately $21 billion, and is a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil and petrochemicals. Enterprise transports natural gas, NGLs, crude oil and petrochemical products through more than 35,000 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines. Services include natural gas gathering, processing, transportation and storage; NGL fractionation (or separation), transportation, storage and import and export terminaling; crude oil transportation; offshore production platform services; and petrochemical pipeline and services. For more information, visit Enterprise on the web. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is managed by its general partner, Enterprise Products GP, LLC, which is wholly-owned by Enterprise GP Holdings L.P. (NYSE:EPE), which has an enterprise value of approximately $6 billion. For more information on Enterprise GP Holdings L.P., visit www.enterprisegp.com.
