Even in the midst of a price downturn that has seen a significant pullback on the rig count, several plays in the U.S. continue to see high levels of activity as drilling efficiencies are increasing production. The Delaware Basin is one such play, which has opened up opportunities for the development of important infrastructure. Though it is part of one of the oldest and most developed plays in the country drilling in the Delaware is located in sections of the Permian lacking in key infrastructure.

Enterprise Products Partners LP is seeking to address this infrastructure gap in the play through the development of the South Eddy, N.M., natural gas processing plant, which it announced was brought online this week ahead of schedule.

The 200 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) cryogenic facility is designed to handle high CO2 gas and is supported by long-term, fee-based agreements. The plant also has the capability to extract 25,000 barrels per day of NGL.

The plant is one of the company’s $6 billion in capital projects under construction this year, with $2.5 billion scheduled to be brought online before the close of 2016. The capital project program is aimed at both creating new demand outlets as well as meeting future demand.

These projects include another processing plant in the Permian Basin, as well as its ethane export terminal along the Houston Ship Channel and additional crude oil storage in Houston and Beaumont, Texas.

Enterprise also anticipates bringing on $4.2 billion in projects online in 2017 and 2018. These projects will include its Gulf Coast PDH (propane dehydrogenation) plant and its Midland to Sealy crude oil pipeline.

The year is expected to continue to be a struggle for commodity prices, but Enterprise CEO Jim Teague noted that it is important to prepare for future demand through infrastructure development as supply and demand will eventually equalize as prices drop. “The cure for low prices is low prices, just like price creates supply, price creates demand,” he said during the company’s recent investor day.

The South Eddy plant, which is expected to start up at near capacity, is the company’s first major step in the Delaware according to Brad Motal, Enterprise’s senior vice president, natural gas assets and marketing. It will solve an immediate issue for producers in the region as Enterprise officials stated in a release that a great deal of natural gas being produced out of the Delaware has been flared, shut-in, or blended into a residue pipeline.

“True to our mindset of providing flow assurance and market choice, this plant has two residue markets and the key part there is each one of those meters has the ability to take 100% of the gas plant’s residue gas vs. some of the other plants you see that have a singular gas plant residue line causing some issues with flow assurances,” Motal said during the investor day presentation.

Enterprise plans on doubling processing capacity in the Delaware in 2016 with a second plant in Waha, Texas, scheduled to come online in the third quarter and add 150 MMcf/d of processing capacity.

“Despite the decrease in rig count nationwide, the Delaware Basin remains very active. With production expected to continue to grow, we are committed to capitalizing on the increased opportunities for midstream services. The additional processing capacity, combined with the connectivity of our integrated midstream network, will provide Delaware Basin producers with unmatched access to the NGL fractionation and storage hub at Mont Belvieu, Texas, as attractive domestic and international markets,” Teague said in a release.

Frank Nieto can be reached at fnieto@hartenergy.com.