East Texas System
The western side of our East Texas System processes and transports natural gas primarily from the Bossier Sands, an area that continues to experience substantial growth in natural gas production. In January 2006, we announced a $610 million expansion and extension of this system, which is needed to handle the strong growth occurring in the Bossier Sands and other regional producing formations. The first stage of this project is complete and the remainder will be in service by the end of 2007. We are continuing to develop opportunities for further upstream and downstream expansions.
In April 2006, we purchased $33 million of additional natural gas gathering and processing assets, which we integrated with our existing East Texas System. In the third quarter of 2006, we completed construction of our 120 MMcf/d Henderson natural gas processing plant and began operation of the link between our North Texas and East Texas systems. As expected, the completion of this connection has increased the use of our previous East Texas System pipeline expansion. This 500 MMcf/d pipeline, which was placed in service in June 2005, provides additional market access to customers of our North and East Texas systems.
We also commenced a considerable expansion of treating and processing
capacity in the region, a significant portion of which is already operational,
with the remaining facilities expected to be completed in stages throughout
2007.
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