Altus Midstream has exercised an option to acquire a stake of 15% from Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline in the Gulf Coast Express Pipeline Project (GCX pipeline), a natural gas pipeline being built in Texas with an investment of around $1.75bn.
Image: Altus Midstream acquires stake in GCX pipeline. Photo: courtesy of outgunned21/Freeimages.com.
The GCX pipeline, which broke ground in May 2018, is slated to be placed into service in October 2019, subject to regulatory approvals.
The 720km or so long pipeline has been designed to deliver up to 1.98 billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas per day sourced from the Waha Hub and other points in the Permian Basin to the Agua Dulce Hub located near the Texas Gulf Coast.
Following the transaction, Kinder Morgan, the operator of the GCX pipeline brings down its ownership in the midstream project to 35%. The other partners in the natural gas pipeline are DCP Midstream and Targa Resources, which hold stakes of 25% each.
The capacity of GCX pipeline has been subscribed fully by long-term minimum volume commitments. Some of the shippers that have committed to the pipeline project are DCP Midstream, Targa, Apache, Pioneer Natural Resources and ExxonMobil’s subsidiary XTO Energy.
A final investment decision on the GCX pipeline was taken by Kinder Morgan, DCP Midstream and Targa Resources in December 2017. The pipeline project’s mainline portion is made up of nearly 132km of 36inch pipeline and 587.4km of 42inch pipeline.
Additionally, the pipeline’s Midland Lateral portion will include nearly 80.4km of 36inch pipeline and associated compression that will link to the GCX Project mainline.
Altus Midstream CEO and president Brian Freed said: “With our purchase of a 15 percent interest in GCX, we’ve taken a major step in executing on our vision of being the only publicly traded, pure-play, Permian Basin C-corporation with wellhead-to-water connectivity.
“The access GCX provides to the natural gas hub at Agua Dulce will allow us to participate in the full Permian-to-Gulf Coast midstream value chain. With four additional equity options in top-tier, Permian Basin pipeline projects and our substantial gathering and processing system built to serve the world-class Alpine High play, we are well-positioned for long-term growth.”
Currently, Altus Midstream has options to acquire stakes in four other proposed pipelines – Salt Creek NGL Line, Shin Oak, EPIC Crude and Permian Highway.