Houston (Platts)--5May2011/739 pm EDT/2339 GMT

Enterprise Products Partners plans to expand the natural gas liquids capacity of the Rocky Mountain segment of its Mid-America Pipeline by 85,000 b/d, it said Thursday.

The additional capacity is designed to accommodate growing natural gas and NGL production from basins in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico, the company said.

Several companies are ramping up drilling activities in liquids-rich shale plays in the region, such as the Niobrara and Uinta.

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Shippers have signed up for an initial 38,500 b/d in 10-year, firm, ship-or-pay transportation agreements, with options to up their takeaway to 85,000 b/d, Enterprise said.

The project will include looping the existing grid with as much as 290 miles of 16-inch-diameter diameter pipelins and pump station modifications. It is expected to go into service in the third quarter of 2014.

Several new natural gas processing plants are being constructed in the Uinta, Piceance, and Greater Green River basins that should fill the expansion by 2014.

"We have received strong demand for this expansion of the Mid-America system," said Jim Teague, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Enterprise's general partner.

"We believe this expansion will enable producers to maximize the value of their Rocky Mountain NGL production by providing them access through our integrated system to the largest domestic NGL market, located on the Texas Gulf Coast," Teague said.

The Rocky Mountain portion of the Mid-America system extends more than 3,000 miles and transports NGLs from the Overthrust and San Juan basin areas to Enterprise's Hobbs fractionator in Gaines County, Texas.

An interconnect to Enterprise's 1,300-mile Seminole Pipeline at Hobbs allows shippers to reach its fractionation facility in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Enterprise recently announced that is in the process of increasing its fractionation capabilities at Mont Belvieu. --Samantha Santa Maria, Samantha_santa_maria@platts.com