Phillips 66 Keeps Natural Gas Processing Train Rolling in the Permian

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were the large, wellhead-to-market natural gas and NGL networks that Phillips 66 and a handful of other midstream empires have assembled — many of them targeting the all-important Permian. Now, P66 has reached an agreement to acquire Pinnacle Midstream, whose associated gas gathering system and gas processing complex in the heart of the Midland Basin nicely complement a host of other gathering and processing assets P66 controls through its majority stake in DCP Midstream. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss P66’s planned purchase of Pinnacle Midstream and what it means for the Permian piece of the acquiring company’s broader natgas/NGL system. 

The handful of midstream companies that provide a full range of “wellhead-to-water” services between the Permian and the Gulf Coast are in growth mode, advancing a long list of gas processing plants, takeaway pipelines, fractionators and export terminal expansions. Last time we looked at what Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer are up to. In today’s RBN blog, we shift our spotlight to what Targa Resources and Phillips 66 are planning, with Targa building a slew of projects and P66 growing primarily through organic opportunities that have arisen following recent bolt-on M&A. 

Energy Transfer is yet again slaking its acquisition appetite by gobbling up another natural gas gatherer and processor to further expand its already formidable Permian footprint. The company announced May 28 that it has struck a $3.25 billion cash-and-stock deal to buy WTG Midstream, a West Texas-based and private equity-backed operator whose Permian assets will boost the acquiring company’s access to gas and NGL volumes as the U.S. midstream sector shows continued consolidation. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at how the addition of WTG’s midstream holdings will enhance Energy Transfer’s asset lineup, including its ongoing NGL export and storage expansions.