ConocoPhillips’ Midstream business is conducted primarily through a 50 percent equity investment in DCP Midstream, LLC, as well as directly held assets and other equity affiliates. These assets include natural gas gathering and processing operations and natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation and marketing businesses. The Midstream business purchases raw natural gas from producers and gathers natural gas through extensive pipeline systems. The gathered natural gas then is processed to extract NGL. The remaining residue gas is marketed to electrical utilities, industrial users and marketing companies. Most of the NGL is fractionated – separated into individual components, such as ethane, propane and butane. These individual products are marketed as chemical feedstock, fuel or refinery blendstock.
ConocoPhillips’ NGL extraction for 2007 totaled 211 MBD, of which approximately 181 MBD was from its interest in DCP Midstream and 30 MBD from other Midstream assets. The company’s share of DCP Midstream’s raw gas throughput was 2.95 BCFD.
DCP Midstream LLC DCP Midstream is equally owned and governed by ConocoPhillips and Spectra Energy.
Headquartered in Denver, Colo., DCP Midstream is one of the largest natural gas gatherers and processors and one of the largest NGL producers and marketers in the United States. Operations include gathering and transporting raw natural gas through approximately 58,000 miles of pipeline. The collected gas is processed at 54 owned or operated plants in the Mid-Continent, Rocky Mountains, East Texas-North Louisiana, Barnett Shale, Gulf Coast, South Texas, Central Texas and Permian regions. DCP Midstream also has 10 fractionating facilities.
In December 2005, DCP Midstream created a master limited partnership, DCP Midstream Partners, LP, of which DCP Midstream owns the general partner. DCP Midstream Partners gathers, compresses, treats, processes, transports and sells natural gas. It also transports and sells NGL and is a leading distributor of propane. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DPM.
Directly Held Assets and Other Affiliates ConocoPhillips owns a 39 percent equity interest in Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited, which operates a 1.35 BCFD gas processing plant and a 70 MBD NGL fractionator in Trinidad. A third gas-processing train currently is under construction and, when complete in 2008, will bring Phoenix Park’s total processing capacity to 2 BCFD. ConocoPhillips’ share of NGL extracted from this facility averaged 7.8 MBD in 2007.
ConocoPhillips also holds a 22.5 percent equity interest in Gulf Coast Fractionators, which owns an NGL fractionation plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas. ConocoPhillips operates this facility and owns 25 MBD of its capacity. Additional assets include a 25 MBD-capacity NGL fractionation plant in Gallup, N.M.; a 40 percent interest in an NGL fractionation plant in Conway, Kan., in which ConocoPhillips’ share of capacity is 42 MBD; a 12.5 percent equity interest in a frac¬tionation plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas, in which ConocoPhillips’ net share of capacity is 26 MBD; and minor interests in two NGL extrac¬tion plants located in Texas and Louisiana. In addition, during 2007 the Midstream business included a 50 percent interest in an NGL extraction plant with a total capacity of 275 MMCFD in San Juan County, N.M. Effective Jan. 1, 2008, our interest in the San Juan asset was moved to the E&P segment for reporting purposes.
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