DENVER, Dec 13, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- MarkWest Energy Partners (NYSE: MWE)
(MarkWest) announced today the commencement of operations of the first Mobley
processing facility located in Wetzel County, West Virginia. The 200 million
cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) plant supports the development of rich-gas from the
Marcellus Shale by EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT), Magnum Hunter Resources
Corporation (NYSE: MHR) and other producers.
The Mobley facility is currently operating at approximately 60% utilization and
will continue to experience accelerated volume growth due to the ongoing
drilling success of MarkWest's producer customers
operating in the area. MarkWest expects to complete construction of its second
Mobley facility, a 120 MMcf/d plant, during the first quarter of 2013, and by
the fourth quarter of 2013 bring online a third facility with 200 MMcf/d of
processing capacity. Once these announced projects are operational, the Mobley
complex will have approximately 520 MMcf/d of processing capacity in the
significant wet-gas fairway of northern West Virginia. The natural gas liquids
(NGLs) recovered at Mobley are being transported via
MarkWest's NGL pipeline gathering network to the
60,000 barrels per day (Bbl/d) Houston fractionation complex in Washington
County, PA, where they are separated into valuable purity products and marketed
on behalf of producer customers.
"The initial Mobley project presented a significant
challenge because of the remote location and mountainous
terrain," said Frank Semple, Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer of MarkWest. "With the initial
plant now online and expansions well underway, our producer customers now have
the infrastructure needed to efficiently develop their prolific Marcellus Shale
acreage in northern West Virginia."