About Us
Overview
MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: MWE) is a publicly traded master limited partnership (MLP) formed in January 2002. We are engaged in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; the transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of NGLs; and the gathering and transportation of crude oil. As a leading provider of midstream services in the natural gas industry, our business strategy is to deliver best-of-class service by developing high-quality, strategically located, diversified assets in the liquids-rich areas of the natural gas resource plays in the United States.
Execution of our business strategy has allowed us to grow substantially since our inception. The majority of our growth since 2007 has focused on the development of natural gas supplies in emerging resource plays. As a result we now have a strong presence in the Marcellus Shale, Huron/Berea Shale, Woodford Shale, Granite Wash, and Haynesville Shale, five emerging resource plays that are expected to be a significant source of domestic natural gas production.
Key Operating Highlights
Marcellus Shale
We are the largest processor of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, with fully integrated processing, fractionation, storage, and marketing operations that are critical to the rich-gas development in the northeast United States. Our operations are supported by strategic, long-term agreements that include significant acreage dedications from key producers.
Huron/Berea Shale
We are the largest processor and fractionator of natural gas in Appalachia. We believe our significant presence and asset base provide us with a competitive advantage in capturing and contracting for new supplies of natural gas. Our concentrated processing, fractionation, and marketing infrastructure, land rights, and storage assets in Appalachia should continue to provide us with a platform for additional cost-effective expansion opportunities as production from these shale formations continues to be developed.
Woodford Shale / Granite Wash
Our acquisitions and internal growth projects have allowed us to establish and expand our presence in several long-lived natural gas supply basins in the Southwest, particularly in Texas and Oklahoma. In late 2006, we expanded this strategy through a long-term agreement by building the largest gathering system to date in the Woodford Shale play in Southeast Oklahoma. We have continued this strategy through the current development of our gathering system in the Granite Wash.
Haynesville Shale
The Haynesville Shale is an extremely productive and cost effective resource play which we believe will continue to be a strategic focus of our East Texas producer customers. We currently have more than 200,000 prospective Haynesville acres dedicated to our East Texas system. As a result of the tremendous growth potential from the liquids-rich zones of the play, we expect to benefit from increased production growth from the Haynesville play in the future.