American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015 - 120

In 2014, Rice Energy formed Rice
Midstream Partners LP, a master limited
partnership to own and operate its midstream assets. Rice says, "The midstream
has become a very important part of our
value creation, but it's a very capital intensive business, too. For that reason, we
formed Rice Midstream Partners to connect our midstream assets with midstream
investors."
Toby Rice, Rice Energy's president
and chief operating officer, says Rice Energy and Rice Midstream are doing their
parts to drive production and deliver gas
to markets. But he says the real opportunity
is finding new sources of demand for the
growing supply of U.S. natural gas.
"There are a lot of exciting new sources
of demand for natural gas, including liquefied natural gas exports, compressed
natural gas as a transportation fuel, and
continued transition out of coal and into
gas-fired power plants. All three can be
huge catalysts for demand growth," he
allows. "We are still in the early innings
of growing U.S. gas supply, so it's vital
to our industry's success that we continue
to create new sources of demand locally,
nationally and internationally."
Adding Value
Joule Processing is a Houston-based
company that helps natural gas operations
run smoothly from wellhead to market
with natural gas processing equipment
engineered to meet its clients' specific
needs, according to President and COO
Daniel Kennedy.
In light of what is happening in the
Marcellus and Utica plays, he says activity
is picking up for Joule. "A large portion

Rice Midstream is positioned to handle an increase in Utica Shale natural gas. Although
current throughput is only about 1.0 billion cubic feet of gas a day, it is designed to accommodate up to 6.5 Bcf/d in aggregate, and is tied to outlets that give it access to markets in the Gulf Coast, Midwest, Canada and Mexico.

of our business is natural gas liquids and
condensate stabilization plants," Kennedy
says. "These plants turn the feedstock
into a transportable material and optimize
the value chain."
Joule provides refrigeration, stabilization,
and fractionation equipment. Another important product in the processing chain is
its Refrigerated Joule-Thomson (JT) plant,
Kennedy continues. "We have a Refrigerated JT plant 1.5 miles from Union City,
Pa., that fractionates propane for local
markets," he states. "We developed a proprietary refrigeration process that can take
the gas temperature to minus 145 degrees
with 90 percent propane recovery."
Custom processing plants can serve
to develop local markets, providing cheaper heating and fuel sources in more rural
areas, Kennedy says, adding that Joule
will do all the engineering required for a
turnkey solution, including balance-of-

plant, MCC buildings, site piping, and
fabrication of all skids, as well as startup
and commissioning support.
Kennedy adds that the Refrigerated
JT plants are a "faster and less expensive"
alternative to cryogenic plants. As Utica
development ramps up, he says he expects
the demand for similar plants to increase.
Joule's typical plant size can be designed
to handle anywhere from 5 million cubic
feet a day to 100 MMcf/d, he says.
"We provide custom solutions,"
Kennedy emphasizes. "We are not just an
off-the-shelf provider, which means we
get creative with our design and engineering
to maximize recovery for our customers.
The plants we build are designed to meet
future regulatory specifications and are
properly sized to handle increased production volumes years down the line."
Chris Rial, director of business development for Joule Processing, says the
company also looks at ways to optimize
the value chain so producers can get
maximum value from their natural gas
production by working with midstream
and marketing companies.
"In remote areas where there is stranded
production, transportation costs are high,"
Rial observes. "We provide skid-mounted
infrastructure to produce more products
that can be taken to market. We also add
value by running economic models on
transportation options for our customers.
This helps them consider alternatives and
choose the most cost-effective solution.
At heart, we are a relatively small, nimble
company that is focused on customer
needs and where we can add value." ❒

Coming In August

The Refrigerated Joule-Thompson plant developed by Joule Processing can take natural
gas temperature to minus 145 degrees with 90 percent propane recovery. The company
says the JT plant is a "faster and less expensive" alternative to cryogenic plants. They
can be sized anywhere from 5 million to 100 million cubic feet a day. This JT plant in
Union City, Pa., has a capacity of 15 MMcf/d.

120 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Cutting-edge developments in hydraulic fracturing tools and techniques, as well as new methods to
evaluate treatment effectiveness.

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015

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