Crestwood JV acquires Antero’s US shale gathering assets

Crestwood Marcellus Midstream has completed the acquisition of Antero Resources Appalachian Corporation’s Marcellus Shale gathering system assets in West Virginia, US for $375m.

The acquired assets include 34 miles of low pressure gathering pipelines located in Harrison and Doddridge Counties, West Virginia, which are currently gathering 230 million cubic feet per day from the existing 63 horizontal Marcellus Shale wells.

The company, a joint venture (JV) between Crestwood Midstream Partners (CMLP) and Crestwood Holdings Partners, plans to drill and connect an additional 51 wells this year.

CMLP president and CEO Robert Phillips said, "On behalf of both Crestwood Holdings and CMLP, we are very excited to complete this acquisition, expanding the Crestwood footprint into the Marcellus Shale. The acquisition is an excellent fit with our strategy of building our portfolio on a solid foundation of long-term fixed-fee revenue streams."

Deliveries to intermediate systems that will connect to MarkWest Energy Partners’ Sherwood Gas processing plant will commence at the end of this year. The plant is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2012.

As part of the acquisition, Crestwood Marcellus Midstream and Antero have entered into a 20-year gas gathering and compression agreement for an area of 127,000 acres in southwestern core of the Marcellus Shale play.