Three Rivers Midstream LLC became a member of Pennant Midstream LLC, a joint venture (JV) between affiliates of Columbia Midstream Group LLC and Harvest Pipeline Co., Columbia Pipeline Group Inc. (CPG) and Columbia Pipeline Partners LP said Oct. 5.

Three Rivers is an affiliate of Williams Partners LP and Columbia Midstream Group is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of CPG.

The executed agreement nearly triples the acreage dedicated to Pennant to about 500,000. Investment-grade producers have been added, bolstering Pennant’s services in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley.

Williams Partners' initial ownership investment is 5%, and it can invest directly in JV’s growth, Columbia said. Its ownership could increase to 33.33%.

Pennant owns the Hickory Bend processing plant and related gathering systems in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The roughly-$400 million investment includes about 41 miles of 12-inch, 20-inch and 24-inch wet gas field gathering and high-pressure pipeline facilities.

The Hickory Bend cryogenic natural gas processing plant in New Middletown, Ohio, is also included, as is a residue pipeline with current deliveries to Dominion East Ohio and Kinder Morgan's Tennessee Gas Pipeline.

There is also an NGL pipeline, about 38 miles long, running from the Hickory Bend plant to Utica East Ohio's Kensington plant in Columbiana County, Ohio.

"Three Rivers is a logical partner for Pennant," said Brett Stovern, Pennant’s president. "The company's extensive commercial and operations knowledge in the Appalachian Basin will further increase our leadership position over our Utica footprint. With strong processing, gathering and transport infrastructure in place, and the ability to significantly expand and leverage our asset position, we look forward to supporting further shale production in the Mahoning Valley."

Williams Partners LP is based in Tulsa, Okla.