On its Q2 2026 earnings call, Western Midstream (WES) emphasized water handling is now its fastest-growing business, with throughput up roughly 85% this year, and CEO Oscar Brown put it plainly: in the Permian, "crude oil and natural gas flow assurance does not happen without a solution for produced water." Pathfinder, a 42-mile, 30-inch pipeline moving more than 800 Mb/d of water out of the busiest parts of the Delaware Basin to disposal wells in eastern Loving County, Texas, is expected to enter service in Q1 2027. Occidental's anchor contract covers just under a third of it.
On natural gas, management noted some Delaware customers curtailed volumes in Q2 when Waha prices went negative, but curtailments ended by quarter's end as the GCX expansion and Hugh Brinson started up. With the added relief of Blackcomb later this year, management mentioned some customers are shifting 2027 wells into late 2026. North Loving II, a 300 MMcf/d processing plant due online early in Q2 2027, will expand the company's West Texas complex to about 2.5 Bcf/d, though Brown said the site is now full, so the next plant would have to go elsewhere.
The $1.6 billion Brazos Delaware II deal, closed in mid-June, shows what spare processing capacity is worth. Brazos adds 460 MMcf/d from its Comanche complex and 470,000 dedicated acres to the WES portfolio.
