There’s a clear trend among some of the biggest midstream players with operators growing their asset bases as a result of increased supply and demand for liquids and gas. This is great news for an industry still in the midst of recovering from a downturn that began in 2014.

While there have been signs of a market upturn, arguably none have been as strong as the remarks from officials at Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) and The Williams Cos. (NYSE: WMB) during their second-quarter earning calls.

Each company reported upticks in their businesses and are moving ahead with large projects that should result in further growth for the industry, both domestically and abroad.

For instance, Enterprise reported a plethora of operational records in the quarter with an average 3.41 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of NGL pipeline transportation volumes; 597,000 bbl/d of NGL marine terminal volumes; 169,000 bbl/d of ethane marine terminal volumes; 927,000 bbl/d of NGL fractionation volumes; 2.05 million bbl/d of crude pipeline transportation volumes; 802,000 bbl/d of crude marine terminal volumes; 6.23 million bbl/d of NGL, crude, petrochemical and refined products pipeline transportation volumes; and 19.3 million pounds per day of propylene production.

Given the amount of activity on the Enterprise system, it’s no wonder that the company is also moving to expand its asset base.

“The second quarter also included a string of project announcements as there continues to be no shortage of opportunities for Enterprise,” Jim Teague, the company’s CEO, said during a recent conference call to discuss quarterly earnings.

These announcements included the expansion of the natural gas processing facility in Orla, Texas, from one processing plant to three with a total of 900 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). Once this expansion is fully completed in 2019, it will also increase NGL extraction capacity to 120,000 bbl/d.

Enterprise also announced an agreement with Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) that dedicates 100% of the NGL production from its Alpine High discovery in the Delaware Basin to Enterprise with a minimum commitment of 205,000 bbl/d. These volumes will help support Enterprise’s 658-mile Shin Oak Pipeline that will move from Reeves County, Texas, to its Mont Belvieu, Texas, NGL fractionation and storage complex. This pipeline is expected to be completed in first-half 2019.

Increased activity out of the Delaware and Midland basins led to Enterprise forming a 50:50 joint venture with Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) to restart service on the 240-mile Old Ocean natural gas pipeline. This system, which has been idled since 2012, runs from Maypearl, Texas, to Sweeny, Texas. The joint venture will also increase capacity from West Texas to this pipeline by expanding its jointly owned North Texas Pipeline, which is expected to be completed by year-end 2018.

In recent years, Enterprise has expanded its focus from gathering and processing of natural gas, NGL and crude oil to other aspects of the midstream and this trend continued in the second quarter. Teague announced the company is increasing its export capacity by purchasing 65 acres adjacent to its Houston Ship Channel marine terminal for its ethylene export project as well as developing an offshore crude oil export terminal off the Texas Gulf Coast.

“For at least the last three years, we have been very open about our long-term outlook for U.S. crude oil exports and we don’t see these trends changing. What makes this project a natural for Enterprise is the fact that our Houston area systems can aggregate over 4 million bbl/d of crude oil,” Teague said. Enterprise is also banking on increased LPG exports that will result in further investments from the company.

Enterprise wasn't the only midstream operator announcing large expansion plans as a result of increased supply and demand, as Williams did the same.

“It is clear that the demand for natural gas that we have been saying is just around the corner has recently come to life in a very dramatic manner,” Alan Armstrong, president and CEO, said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

Armstrong noted that natural gas storage inventories are 20% below the five-year average, but prices remain relatively low. This is resulting in large investments in new infrastructure. “[T]he extraordinary thing about the quarter was the tremendous amount of progress on projects, planned expansions and new business that was contracted during the quarter that gives us even more confidence in our growth rate for years to come,” he said.

Williams’ gathering volumes rose by 250 MMcf/d on a year-to-year basis and these figures stand to grow in the coming years as several projects were announced in the quarter. These expansions include several assets in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming: The Jackalope gas gathering system and the Bucking Horse natural gas processing plant. Once completed, these expansions will result in increasing the processing capacity at Bucking Horse to 345 MMcf/d by the end of 2019.

Besides the Powder River Basin, Williams is growing in other regions, such as the Appalachian Basin. The company announced plans to expand its gathering and processing capacity in northeast Pennsylvania and West Virginia as the Marcellus and Utica continue to dominate the domestic natural gas picture.

“The effects of these additions of supply [from the Northeast] are just now beginning to show as we complete key compressor facilities on our gathering systems that allow newly connected pads to begin flowing. We are really impressed with some of the production rates that we're seeing from some of the new pads that we're just now turning on. The number of projects that our teams are managing in the Northeast are way too numerous to mention here, but the fruits of their labor will begin to show later this year and into 2019,” Armstrong said.

Onshore