Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE:ETP) announced October 20 that it has entered into a long-term, fee-based agreement with XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, to provide natural gas gathering, processing and transportation services from both the Woodford and Barnett Shale regions.

ETP will construct a 117-mile natural gas gathering pipeline from the Woodford Shale located in Oklahoma to its existing gathering and processing infrastructure in the Barnett Shale. As part of the project, the Partnership also will construct a new 200 million cubic feet per day cryogenic processing plant at its existing Godley processing facility in Johnson County, Texas.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to expand the footprint of our Godley processing and gathering system into the Woodford Shale in Oklahoma," said Roy Patton, senior vice president of Energy Transfer Partners. "This expansion, which also benefits our customers in the Barnett Shale, increases the long-term utilization of our Godley processing facility by giving us access to some of the most active liquid-rich drilling plays in the region. This project complements the Partnership's other assets by increasing downstream transportation on our intrastate segment as well as providing additional NGL volumes for transportation and fractionation through our Lone Star NGL system."

The 117-mile, 24- and 30-inch Red River Gathering Pipeline will originate in Carter County, Oklahoma and will have an initial capacity of 450 million cubic feet per day, with anticipated capacity expansion exceeding 550 million cubic feet per day. The pipeline is expected to be in service by the fourth quarter of 2012. The new processing plant will increase the Partnership's processing capacity at Godley from 500 million cubic feet per day to 700 million cubic feet per day and is expected to be in service by the third quarter of 2013. The total cost to build the pipeline and processing plant is estimated to be approximately $360 million. 

Source:  Energy Transfer Partners