The Dos Caminos natural gas expansion project in the Eagle Ford Shale of south Texas will use more than 193-km of new large diameter pipeline.

Dos Caminos is a joint venture between HEP and an affiliate of Eagle Ford Midstream LP (EFM). The green light was given after the receipt of the necessary binding commercial agreements.

Kinder Morgan Tejas Pipeline LLC (Tejas), a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), and Howard Energy Partners (HEP), through the aforementioned joint venture, will expand their respective Eagle Ford natural gas transportation systems.

The projects are planned to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2023 and will be capable of delivering up to 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas to U.S. Gulf Coast markets.

“We are excited to have begun construction on our Spears expansion project,” said Mike Howard, chief executive of HEP. “We have a long history of helping producers in Webb County and surrounding areas find access to premier natural gas markets. We believe this expansion, in conjunction with Kinder Morgan’s expansion, will be an important next chapter in that history.”

Dos Caminos was created to develop additional natural gas transportation opportunities in the Eagle Ford region of south Texas and to jointly market capacity on HEP and EFM’s existing systems. HEP said then that through a combination of ongoing enhancements to existing systems and new greenfield pipelines, Dos Caminos planned to nearly double throughput capacity to a total of up to 2.0 Bcf/D.