Tallgrass Energy LP recently promoted Crystal Heter, who has been with the Leawood, Kan.-based midstream company since its inception in 2012, to serve as its COO.

An industry veteran, Heter was instrumental in driving the company’s effort to transform Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) into the nation’s northernmost bi-directional natural gas header system, Tallgrass said in a company release on July 14.

REX, which became fully operational in 2009, stretches about 1,700 miles from the Rocky Mountain region in northwestern Colorado and Wyoming to the Appalachian Basin in eastern Ohio.

To answer the call for more takeaway capacity from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in the Appalachian Basin, REX put into service its Seneca Lateral in 2014, making REX Zone 3 bi-directional. Further, REX’s Zone 3 east-to-west capacity has since tripled following completion of another expansion in 2015.

“Crystal [Heter] is an outstanding addition to Tallgrass Energy’s executive team,” said Tallgrass CEO William R. (Bill) Moler in the company release. “She’s spent her entire career in the oil and gas industry, and her combination of commercial and operational experience makes her uniquely suited for this role.”

Most recently, Heter served as segment president of natural gas transportation and president of REX. In her new role as COO, which was effective immediately, she reports directly to Tallgrass President Matthew P. (Matt) Sheehy.

Tallgrass Energy is a growth-oriented midstream energy infrastructure company operating across 11 states with transportation, storage, terminal, water, gathering and processing assets located in some of the nation’s most prolific crude oil and natural gas basins.

Formerly publicly traded, the company became privately held late last year following the closing of its buyout by a group led by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners that valued Tallgrass at $6.3 billion.

Onshore