Big natural gas processing complex opening in Monroe County

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Blue Racer

Blue Racer Midstream's Berne processing complex in Monroe County will open soon.

Tom Knox

Reporter- Columbus Business First

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The Berne processing complex in Monroe County, which has the capacity to hold three plants each processing 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, is almost ready to open.

The first 200 million-capacity plant will open in November, said Casey Nikoloric, spokeswoman for Blue Racer Midstream LLC, the company that runs the Monroe County project. Construction of the second unit has started and should be in-service in April.

Berne should be a boon to the chronically underdeveloped infrastructure in the Utica shale region. A new transmission line for the project was completed this week, according to a filing the company made to state regulators. Dallas-based Blue Racer had asked regulators for an expedited review of its plan to build the 138-kilovolt electrical transmission line in May and regulators approved the 2,000-foot line a month later.

The cryogenic processing facilities strip away natural gas liquids from dry natural gas. Natural gas liquids are increasingly valuable and easy to export. Berne will start operations once it gets utility service connected and ties up a few other loose ends, Nikoloric told me.

Blue Racer formed in 2012 as a $1.5 billion joint venture between Caiman Energy II LLC and Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D). It ships, processes and stores oil and gas for Utica shale producers.

The company has a neighboring processing complex in Marshall County, West Virginia, called Natrium. Blue Racer expects to have a combined processing capacity of 840 million cubic feet per day by April between the two facilities.