New midstream companies are being drawn to the Permian basin, thanks to the need for more infrastructure, say some industry executives.

Crestwood Midstream Partners LP is among the crowd of newcomers. The master limited partnership, which was founded in October 2010, is establishing a strong presence in the region, primarily in the Delaware basin.

“From our standpoint, the Permian is really just getting started,” Heath Deneke, Crestwood’s chief commercial officer, said during Hart Energy’s DUG Permian conference. “We’re focused on being part of the solution in the area.”

Crestwood has numerous undertakings in the region. It is expanding its existing Las Animas gathering system, which currently has more than 50 miles of pipeline spanning five townships in Eddy County, New Mexico. The company is adding near-term processing capacity to that system, Deneke told conference attendees.

As well, the company is working on a cryogenic processing plant facility and rich gas trunkline system targeting Eddy and Lea counties in New Mexico and Reeves and Loving counties in Texas.

“What we are proposing is a very comprehensive and scalable rich-gas solution,” said Deneke. “We’re going to start small, and we’re going to build out around our existing system and offer a more appropriatesized central facility as production grows into it.”

Crestwood isn’t the only new company to enter the play. Formed in July 2012 with a $100 million equity commitment from EnCap Flatrock’s Fund II, EagleClaw Midstream Services LLC exists to serve the midstream infrastructure needs of Permian producers.

The Midland, Texas-based company will focus on placing midstream assets in reservoirs where such infrastructure doesn’t yet exist. It will provide natural gas gathering lines and cryogenic processing facilities, as well as gas treating and field compression services.

“Someone’s going to have to go in and build that infrastructure,” Bob Milam, Eagle Claw’s president, told DUG Permian attendees.

Milam added that the Permian’s economics make it an attractive place to do business. For example, it costs about $40,000 per diameter-inch mile to lay steel pipeline in the Permian. In the Marcellus, it’s $200,000 per diameter-inch mile.

“In the Permian, your dollars literally go five times farther,” said Milam.

Robert E. Dunn, chief executive of Prism Midstream LLC, said his company initially entered Reeves County to develop gathering and processing facilities. Drilling growth created a need for additional infrastructure in the Permian, he said. Of course, Prism was happy to step in to help.

Prism Midstream, founded in 2012 with Energy Spectrum backing, is focused on gas gathering and processing in West Texas. It has added crude oil gathering and transportation to its skill set too, Dunn told DUG Permian attendees.

“We’re focused on resource plays that need new midstream infrastructure,” he said. “We’re working to develop projects throughout the Permian, and we’re also focused on Reeves County with Kinder Morgan. We’re in Reeves County [due to] the explosive growth in drilling, which has created a need for infrastructure. When you look at Reeves County, the drilling activity has just exploded.”

The legacy systems in West Texas are essentially full, which has created the need for more build-out, he added.

“This has led to the need for a multitude of new projects, and we expect some of those projects to be ours.”

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