MPLX's latest earnings call, on August 4th, reinforced that the partnership remains focused on expanding its natural gas and NGL value chain rather than pursuing major crude oil infrastructure projects. Management highlighted continued strong producer activity across the Marcellus, Utica and Permian basins, driving high utilization rates at its gathering systems, processing plants and takeaway pipelines.
Project execution remains the central theme for 2026. During the quarter, MPLX placed the 200 MMcf/d Secretariat I processing plant (red diamond in Fig. 1) in the Delaware basin into service and recently started up Harmon Creek III, 300 MMcf/d, in the Utica/Marcellus. The partnership also confirmed that additional sour gas processing capacity, gas gathering expansions and NGL projects are scheduled to enter service over the balance of the year. These include an expansion of the Permian NGL pipeline, BANGL(blue line) to 300 Mb/d, incremental sour gas treating in the Delaware basin at the Titan processing complex (blue diamond). Along with the Q4 startup of the WhiteWater Midstream operated 2.5 Bcf/d Blackcomb pipeline (white/black dashed line). MPLX owns a 34% stake in Blackcomb.
Fig. 1
Gas projects still in the pipeline include a mid 2028 start for the 3.7 Bcf/d Eiger Express pipeline (yellow/black line in Fig.1). MPLX owns a 22% stake in Eiger. The 2.6 Bcf/d Bay Runner Pipeline (red/black) extends the Whistler system from Agua Dulce to NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG terminal (orange triangle) and forms part of the Rio Bravo/Bay Runner twin-pipeline project (purple/black). Combined the Bay Runner system will be capable of supplying ~5.3 Bcf/d of feed gas to NextDecade LNG by the end of this decade.
Further out on the horizon is the development of MPLX’s Texas City NGL and JV with ONEOK LPG assets. Maryann Mannen President, CEO & Chairman of the Board of MPLX GP LLC said “We expect the first 150 Mb/d fractionator, the 400 Mb/d JV LPG export terminal and the associated purity pipeline to be in service in 2028, followed by the second 150 Mb/d fractionator in 2029.”
Looking ahead, management emphasized that its development pipeline remains heavily weighted toward fee-based natural gas and NGL infrastructure, with opportunities extending beyond processing plants to include gathering expansions, compression, fractionation and downstream connectivity. The company continues to see sustained demand from producers seeking reliable takeaway and processing capacity, particularly as LNG export growth and rising domestic natural gas demand support long-term production increases.
