You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest from three midstreamers—one exiting a partnership, one diving into a new one, and both with MPLX front and center.

We start with Houston-based Summit Midstream, which operates natural gas, crude oil, and water gathering systems in Appalachia, the Williston, DJ, Piceance, and Barnett. The company also holds a 36% and 38% interest, respectively, in Ohio Gathering Co. and Ohio Condensate Co. Summit jumped into this JV back in 2014, which provides gas gathering, processing, fractionation, and storage services in the Utica.

Fast-forward to last September when Summit announced a Review of Strategic Alternatives (RSA), followed by a 2023 4Q net loss of $15 million reported less than two weeks ago. Summit says it will now sell its Utica interests, along with other assets there to MPLX in an all-cash $625 million deal. The company points the finger at gas prices to focus more on its crude assets. Aside from divesting assets, the RSA also includes a potential sale of the company.

Meanwhile, Alberta-based pipeline giant Enbridge, which entered the U.S. power and gas utility biz last year in a $14 billion deal with Dominion, has partnered up with WhiteWater Midstream, I Squared Capital, and MPLX to tag team a three-pipeline project that will usher more Permian gas to the Gulf Coast’s LNG Central. The JV will include the 450-mile Whistler Pipeline near the origination point of Enbridge’s proposed 137-mile Rio Bravo at Agua Dulce, a 50% interest in the Waha gas storage facility, and a 70% stake in the proposed 40-mile ADCC pipeline. Combined, the pipeline platform will deliver gas to Cheniere at Corpus Christi and NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG facility.