Targa permit approved for new Permian gas processing plant

Targa Resources Corp. air permit approved for new cryogenic natural gas processing plant in the Permian basin.

Targa Resources Corp. is adding another cryogenic natural gas processing plant to its already expanding operations in the Permian Midland as part of the operator’s broader strategy to further extend its Permian basin gathering and processing position amid heightened demand from producers.

In response to rising regional production and to meet infrastructure needs of producers, Targa plans to build and commission the new 275-MMcfd Greenwood plant in its Midland basin system by the end of fourth-quarter 2023, the operator told investors on its second-quarter 2022 earnings call.

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Targa said the proposed Greenwood plant will follow startup of two additional Permian Midland plants currently under construction as part of the operator’s system in Upton County, Tex., including the 275-MMcfd Legacy I and 275 Legacy II plants, which are scheduled to enter service in late third-quarter 2022 and second-quarter 2023, respectively.

The operator also confirmed ongoing progress with expansion of its existing Permian Delaware system in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, with construction of the 275-MMcfd Midway plant proceeding as planned for a targeted commissioning in third-quarter 2023. Elsewhere in the Delaware basin, in Lea County, NM, Targa said it also will startup the new 230-MMcfd Red Hills VI plant by the end of third-quarter 2022.

Proposed Location if New Gas Plant

In its quarterly earnings presentation, Targa said the new Permian gas processing plants—all of which will be electric-drive to improve operational performance, as well as provide incremental capacity to enhance overall system flexibility—will support increased flows of NGLs along the operator’s Grand Prix pipeline that connects its Permian gathering and processing system to Targa’s existing eight fractionators and export dock in Mont Belvieu, Tex., on the Texas Gulf Coast (OGJ Online, June 17, 2022).

To accommodate additional NGL volumes along the Grand Prix, Targa also revealed it will add a ninth fractionator at its Mont Belvieu complex. The 120,000-b/d Train 9 fractionator is scheduled for startup in second-quarter 2024, according to the operator.

Growth of the Targa’s Permian processing and gathering system follows the operator’s $3.55-billion acquisition of Lucid Energy Delaware LLC—including about 1,050 miles of natural gas pipelines and about 1.4 bcfd of processing capacity (7 cryogenic natural gas processing plants, including the soon-to-be-commissioned Red Hills VI plant) primarily in Eddy and Lea counties of New Mexico—in deal finalized on July 29, Targa told investors.