General Partner of Summit Midstream Partners, LP Announces $300 million of New Development Projects in the Bakken Shale Play

DALLAS, June 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Midstream Partners, LLC ("Summit Investments"), the privately held company that owns and controls the general partner of Summit Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: SMLP) and also owns a 56.8% limited partner interest in SMLP, today provided a commercial update for its wholly owned operating subsidiary, Meadowlark Midstream Company, LLC ("Meadowlark"), and announced the development of a new oil, gas and water gathering system by its new, wholly owned operating subsidiary, Tioga Midstream, LLC ("Tioga Midstream").  Meadowlark is composed of the Divide Crude Oil & Water Gathering System (the "Divide System") and the Polar Crude Oil & Water Gathering System (the "Polar System"), both of which are located in the Bakken Shale Play in North Dakota.  Meadowlark also owns the Niobrara Gathering & Processing System, which is located in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Weld County, CO. 

Collectively, the four new development projects represent approximately $300 million of future capital expenditures.  These projects will expand Summit Investments' crude oil, water and associated natural gas gathering footprint in Williams and Divide counties in North Dakota and will provide its customers with additional interconnects to help maximize the value of the crude oil gathered by each of Summit Investments' Bakken Shale gathering systems.   

A summary of each of the development projects is provided below:

Tioga Midstream / Commercial Update – Summit Investments' newly formed, wholly owned subsidiary, Tioga Midstream, has agreed with a subsidiary of a leading independent Bakken producer to develop new crude oil, water and associated natural gas gathering infrastructure serving its acreage located in Williams County, North Dakota.  Under this new arrangement, Tioga Midstream will construct over 240 miles of new pipeline and is expected to have total system capacity of 20,000 barrels per day ("BPD") of crude oil, 25,000 BPD of water, and 14 million cubic feet per day of associated natural gas under a 10-year, fee-based gathering agreement that includes an acreage dedication of 114,000 acres. 

This new pipeline system will reduce flaring in North Dakota as it gathers natural gas in an area that is remote from existing infrastructure and moves it to the producer's owned and operated natural gas processing plant in the Bakken Shale.  In addition to providing a more economical and efficient gathering solution, the crude oil and water pipeline infrastructure is intended to reduce the number of trucks on North Dakota's roads and highways.

Divide System Commercial Update (Samson) – During the first quarter of 2014, Meadowlark executed a new, long-term crude oil transportation agreement with Samson Resources Company ("Samson") to provide crude oil transportation for its Ambrose Field acreage located in Divide County, North Dakota.  Meadowlark is currently in the process of expanding the Divide System footprint by installing crude oil pipeline infrastructure to connect certain Samson wells currently being serviced by trucks.  Summit Investments expects first crude oil throughput from Samson in the third quarter of 2014.

Stampede Rail Connection – Meadowlark has executed definitive documentation with Global Partners LP ("Global") whereby Meadowlark has agreed to construct a new crude oil truck unloading station, including 55,000 barrels of crude oil tankage on the Divide System, as well as a new 47-mile crude oil pipeline serving Global's 270,000 barrel crude oil storage facility at Basin Transload's Stampede rail terminal located in Burke County, North Dakota.   Crude oil delivered to this rail terminal has single line haul rail access to Global's Albany, New York terminal and can also access other rail-serviced terminals throughout the United States. 

With this project, Meadowlark will provide its customers with a new interconnect for up to 50,000 BPD of crude oil deliverability, providing optionality to access new downstream markets on both the East and West Coasts.  The project is also designed to attract incremental crude oil production that is currently being trucked from pad sites located in Divide County, North Dakota.  Once on Meadowlark's pipeline infrastructure, customers will have direct access to the COLT Hub rail terminal and the Stampede rail terminal.      

Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. ("Kodiak") Gathering Expansion – Meadowlark has agreed with Kodiak to significantly expand the Polar System located in Williams County, North Dakota.  Pursuant to the terms of a new amended gathering agreement, Meadowlark will expand the Polar System to connect over 60 possible pad sites that Kodiak expects to develop in its Polar Field over the next several years.  With this expansion, Meadowlark will more than double the number of pad site receipt points that are currently connected to the Polar System and significantly increase the volume of crude oil and produced water it gathers from this field. 

Steve Newby, President and CEO of Summit Investments commented, "Today we announced a variety of new organic development projects that we expect will further enhance Summit's position as a leading, independent midstream provider in the Bakken Shale.  Within three months of executing the $305 million Red Rock drop down from Summit Investments to SMLP, our commercial team has worked to replace the value of that asset by working with our existing Bakken customers to meet their growing needs and with new producers located in close proximity to our existing crude oil and water gathering infrastructure to expand Summit Investments' operating footprint."

"I am pleased to welcome three new customers and to announce a significant expansion of our strong existing relationship with Kodiak. I am particularly excited about the new Tioga Midstream development project which involves a coordinated effort by Summit Investments to concurrently develop an integrated crude oil, natural gas, and water gathering system for a large, independent Bakken producer." 

About Summit Midstream Partners, LLC

Summit Midstream Partners, LLC ("Summit Investments") indirectly owns a 56.8% limited partner interest in SMLP and indirectly owns and controls the general partner of SMLP, Summit Midstream GP, LLC, which has sole responsibility for conducting the business and managing the operations of SMLP.  Summit Investments owns, operates and is developing various crude oil, associated natural gas, and water-related midstream energy infrastructure assets in the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and in the DJ Niobrara Shale in Colorado. Summit Investments is also developing natural gas gathering and condensate stabilization infrastructure in the Utica Shale in southeastern Ohio under a joint venture agreement with affiliates of MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. and The Energy & Minerals Group.  Summit Investments is a privately held company owned by members of management, funds controlled by Energy Capital Partners II, LLC, and GE Energy Financial Services, Inc. and certain of its affiliates.

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SOURCE Summit Midstream Partners, LP