Meritage Midstream Services III LP (Meritage III) will build natural gas and oil assets supporting Canadian International Oil Corp.’s (CIOC’s) Montney and Duvernay shale position, a press release said Aug. 11. Meritage Midstream Services (Meritage) is Meritage III’s affiliate.

Meritage III and CIOC entered into definitive agreements.

Natural gas gathering, compression and processing assets will provide 75 million cubic feet per day of gathering and processing capacity. Crude oil gathering assets will provide up to 10,000 barrels per day of gathering capacity.

Construction of both systems began in May. The 42-kilometer (km) high-pressure gas gathering system will deliver rich gas to the new processing plant about 60 miles south of Grand Prairie, Alberta. The plant is scheduled to be in service in April 2016. It will connect residue gas to the TransCanada Pipeline and other delivery points.

The 37-km crude oil gathering system follows the same route as most of the gas gathering pipeline and will connect to Pembina Pipeline Corp.’s Karr Lateral Pipeline, which will serve Pembina's terminal in northwestern Alberta’s Lator area.

“The Montney and the Duvernay are poised to become two of the most prolific plays in North America, and CIOC is one of the most prominent and active oil and gas operators in western Canada. These important agreements establish our position in the region and allow us to continue to focus on developing the infrastructure needed to stay ahead of the immediate and long-term needs of our Canadian customers,” said Steve Huckaby, CEO of Meritage and Meritage III.

Meritage also said that Michael A. Hantzsch joined the company as senior vice president- Canada. Hantzsch has more than 37 years’ experience energy, focused on Canada. He will lead Meritage’s Canada office, which will open soon in Calgary.

Most recently, he worked at Pembina. He began his career with Shell Canada Ltd. and has also worked at Williams Energy and Provident Energy.

Hantzsch has a bachelor’s degree from The University of Toronto. He has been a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta since 1980.

“It took the best of the best to bring me out of retirement. I have tremendous respect for the Meritage team and the company’s outstanding track record. The opportunity to join Meritage and help grow the Canadian business unit from the ground up is very exciting and one I just couldn’t pass up,” he said.

Meritage Midstream Services III LP is based in Denver.