This month, shale projects are branching out to new territory and midstream operators are forming new partnerships. Joint ventures between companies are livening up the project space as operators seek to build more projects to meet producer needs.

To that end, Vitol Midstream LLC and Blueknight Energy Partners LP have entered into agreements for the construction and operation of a new crude oil terminal in Midland, Texas. Vitol Midstream acquired 90 acres in Midland County where it will construct a new storage terminal and unloading stations for trucks.

The Vitol Midstream site will be connected by pipeline to the major crude oil terminals in Midland, Texas. The company has also secured pipeline connectivity agreements with Centurion Pipeline LP and Enterprise Crude Pipeline LLC. The initial construction phase will consist of 1,000,000 barrels (bbl.) of crude oil storage with six truck unloading stations. Blueknight Energy will coordinate and supervise the engineering and construction stages of the design for Vitol Midstream. Additionally, Blueknight Energy and Vitol Midstream have entered into an agreement for Blueknight to operate and maintain the new facility and all connecting pipelines.

Meanwhile, Enterprise Products Partners LP, Enbridge Energy Partners LP and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. have entered the Barnett and Granite Wash play with a new pipeline and associated NGL gathering systems. The new pipeline, dubbed the Texas Express Pipeline, will provide producers in West and Central Texas, the Rocky Mountains, Southern Oklahoma and the Mid-Continent access the to Gulf Coast NGL market. Initial capacity will be about 280,000 bbl. per day, which can be expandable to 400,000 bbl. per day.

The joint venture will also include two new NGL gathering systems, which will connect Texas Express Pipeline to natural gas processing plants in the Granite Wash production area. The second NGL system will connect Texas Express Pipeline to Central Texas and the Barnett shale processing plants.

Also, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP recently revealed a project to build and operate a new 136-mile, 16-inch pipeline to transport fuel and diesel from refineries in Norco, Louisiana, to an existing petroleum hub in Collins, Mississippi, owned by Plantation Pipeline Co. Kinder Morgan has plans to partner with Valero Energy Corp. in a joint venture that will own Parkway Pipeline LLC. The pipeline will have an initial capacity of 110,000 bbl. per day, with the ability to expand to over 200,000 bbl. per day. The $220 million pipeline project is supported by shipper agreements, and is expected to be in service by mid-year 2013.

Elsewhere, Enbridge Inc. made plans to spend $185 million to expand its Athabasca Pipeline to handle crude from the Christina Lake oilsands project operated by Cenovus Energy Inc. The 336-mile pipeline transports oil from a number of oilsands projects in Northern Alberta to the mainline hub at Hardisty, near Edmonton. When the expansion is complete, the pipeline will be able to transport 450,000 bbl. per day, and could be expandable to 570,000 bbl. per day.

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