DCP Midstream Slims Down Capex for 2019, Proceeds with Key Projects

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--DCP Midstream LP's (NYSE:DCP) (Denver, Colorado) guidance for 2019 includes growth capital expenditures ranging from $600 million to $800 million, compared with 2018's actual expenditures of $856 million. Even so, the company is advancing several natural gas- and natural gas liquids-related projects in Colorado and Texas.

Industrial Info is tracking more than $2.7 billion in project activity by DCP Midstream that is in various stages of development.

Click on the image at right for a graph showing DCP's spending by project type.

Chief Financial Officer Sean O'Brien said during DCP Midstream's fourth-quarter 2018 earnings conference call that greater project efficiencies and moving out some planned spending to 2020 will enable the company to lower its planned growth capital expenditures for this year.

Chief Executive Officer Wouter van Kempen listed the progress of several projects. Among them, the O'Conner natural gas processing plant phase II expansion near Kersey, Colorado, is on target to be online in the second quarter of this year. The $200 million project includes a 200 million-standard-cubic-foot-per-day cryogenic natural gas plant, bringing the total capacity of the facility to 360 million standard cubic feet per day. The plant will process natural gas from Colorado's DJ Basin. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Work also is proceeding on the $150 million Bighorn natural gas processing plant in La Salle, Colorado, van Kempen said. The company has secured all necessary permits for the project, is ordering long-lead equipment and has acquired one square mile of land for the plant, he said. The company plans to have the plant online by the second quarter of 2020, he said. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Van Kempen said he expects DCP's development of natural gas processing in the DJ Basin to be unaffected by any pending legislation or regulations regarding the siting of such facilities near populated areas. The vast majority of the natural gas volumes that DCP receives comes from rural areas that largely support the industry, he continued.

In November, Coloradans rejected a proposal that could have severely curtailed future oil and gas drilling in the state. The proposal would have significantly lengthened the distance that new wells could be drilled from occupied buildings and waterways. However, voters also elected former congressman Jared Polis as governor, who previously had backed measures to increase oil and gas setbacks. For related information, see November 12, 2018, article - Oil & Gas Industry Welcomes Colorado's Rejection of Limits on Drilling.

In West Texas' Permian Basin, van Kempen said construction of the Gulf Coast Express pipeline, of which DCP Midstream owns 25%, is progressing, with an expected in-service date of October this year. The pipeline will transport up to 1.98 billion cubic feet per day of gas from the Permian Basin to the Agua Dulce, Texas, area. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the $500 million first spread of the project, and the $450 million spreads 3 and 4.

DCP Midstream reported $298 million in net income for 2018, up from $229 million in 2017. In December, the company announced that the expanded capacity of the Sand Hills natural gas liquids pipeline in Texas had been placed into service. This most recent expansion of 45,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) brought the pipeline's total capacity to 485,000 BBL/d.

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