Tulsa, Okla.-based ONEOK Partners LP (NYSE: OKS) plans to invest approximately $180 million to $240 million between now and the first half of 2012 for natural gas liquids (NGL) projects in the Cana-Woodford shale and Granite Wash plays.

When completed, the projects are expected to add approximately 75,000 to 80,000 barrels per day (B/d) of raw, unfractionated NGLs to the partnership's existing NGL gathering systems in the Midcontinent and to the Arbuckle Pipeline.

"These projects increase our ability to transport raw NGLs from these two important supply areas and better meet the needs of our customers," says Terry K. Spencer, ONEOK Partners chief operating officer. "Our Arbuckle Pipeline plays an integral role in our ability to deliver NGLs to the Mont Belvieu, Texas, market center."

The investment involves constructing more than 230 miles of 10- and 12-inch diameter NGL pipelines that will expand the partnership's existing Mid-Continent NGL gathering system in the Cana-Woodford and Granite Wash areas by connecting to three new third-party natural gas processing facilities being constructed with total capacity of 510 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d).

It also involves installing additional pump stations on the Arbuckle Pipeline to increase its capacity to 240,000 B/d. The Arbuckle Pipeline is a 440-mile NGL pipeline that extends from southern Oklahoma through the Barnett shale of north Texas and on to the partnership's fractionation and storage facilities at Mont Belvieu on the Texas Gulf Coast.

These projects are expected to be completed during the first half of 2012. The additional raw NGLs from these natural gas processing plants will be fractionated at either the partnership's fractionation facilities or by third parties.

In aggregate, these projects are expected to generate EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) multiples of four to six times. The incremental fee-based earnings from these projects are expected to increase distributable cash flow and value to unitholders.

ONEOK Partners owns a natural gas liquids system in the Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast, which includes fractionators and storage in Mont Belvieu, Texas; Bushton, Conway and Hutchinson, Kan.; and Medford, Okla. It also owns interstate natural gas liquids distribution pipelines between Conway and Mont Belvieu, and NGL and refined petroleum products distribution pipelines that connect its Mid-Continent NGL infrastructure to Midwest markets, including Chicago.

In addition to these projects, the partnership has already announced in 2010 approximately $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion in growth projects.