September 2011, Vol. 238 No. 9

In The News

EQT Acquires Peregrine Midstream Partners

EQT Infrastructure has acquired 70% of Houston-based Peregrine Midstream Partners, LLC from the management team and other existing investors. EQT’s investment will allow Peregrine Midstream to fund completion of Ryckman Creek, the company’s first storage facility and one of several gas storage projects in Peregrine midstream’s portfolio.

Peregrine Midstream was co-founded in 2009 by John Hopper and Jeff Foutch, CEO and Chief Commercial Officer, respectively. They are joined on the senior management team by former management team members from Falcon Gas Storage Company, which they also co-founded. The management team is a leader in the midstream industry and has completed and operated gas storage projects in Texas while also initiating projects in Alabama and New York. Barry Pearl will become chairman of the Peregrine Midstream Board of Directors.

The high-deliverability, multi-cycle (HDMC) natural gas storage project, which is located near the Opal Hub in the Western Rockies, involves converting the partially depleted Ryckman Creek Nugget Unit into a gas storage field with an initial working gas capacity of 18 Bcf when the first phase is completed in 2012.  Ryckman plans to expand working gas capacity to 35 Bcf by 2014, increasing to a total capacity of 50 Bcf when the Phase II expansion is finished.  Maximum injection capability will be 350 MMcf/d with a maximum withdrawal capability of 480 MMcfd.
 
Foutch said Ryckman’s open season in October 2010 was oversubscribed by 35 Bcf, reflecting  strong demand for the services in the Midwest and West.
 
The FERC order authorizes Ryckman Creek to construct and operate a natural gas storage facility consisting of:
* Up to six injection/withdrawal wells
* Two re-entry observation wells and two re-entry/recompletion saltwater disposal wells
* A central gas/liquids separation and processing facility
* 4.8 miles of new eight-inch storage field flow lines connecting injection/withdrawal wells to the processing facility
* 4 miles of 16-inch header pipeline connecting the processing facility to the Canyon Creek compressor station
* Canyon Creek facilities with four existing retrofit compressors and up to eight new compressors 
* Bi-directional meter stations added to the existing Kern River, Questar and Overthrust pipeline interconnects