The venture will be jointly funded and operated by the two companies on a 50/50 basis and is designed to exploit the parties’ combined capabilities in developing pipeline infrastructure and corresponding treatment facilities.
Heckmann and ETP have identified several potential projects and have begun the engineering and preliminary permitting necessary to proceed with construction of water pipelines, treatment, and other related facilities.
According to US Geological Survey estimates, the Marcellus Shale fields contain the largest prospective natural gas reserves in North America, second only to the Haynesville Shale. The venture is building an organization to deliver the systems and solutions demanded by oil and natural gas producers in these areas.
Richard Heckmann, chairman and CEO of Heckmann, said: ‘’We recently completed and are operating our 50 mile produced water pipeline and disposal facility in the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and Texas. We are now looking forward to working with our partners at ETP to deliver solutions for the over 5 billion gallons of produced water per year and demand for over 12 billion gallons per year of frac fluids in the Northeast as well as the area in which we now operate.
“We believe that our combined experience with the installation and operation of pipeline systems and the access we have to the technologies necessary to treat and recycle the water will be of great help to the producers of natural gas and oil, and to other producers of complicated water streams.”
