Black Bear Midstream Enters into Gas Gathering Agreement

by  Valerie Jones  Rigzone Staff      Tuesday, August 06, 2019

Black Bear Midstream, a portfolio company of funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., has entered into a seven-year gas gathering and processing agreement with an unnamed Cotton Valley producer in Desoto and Caddo Parishes, Louisiana.

Per the agreement, Black Bear Midstream will build 20 miles of 16-inch rich gas gathering pipe west of its DeSoto Parish cryogenic processing plant. It stands to support this contract as well as other producers on both sides of the Louisiana and Texas border.

“We continue to execute on our strategy to provide both lean and rich gas gathering services in support of our customers drilling both Haynesville and Cotton Valley formations in North Louisiana, Black Bear CEO Rich DiMichele said in a company statement. “The relationship we’ve built with this and other producers keeps us excited about the area and confirms our belief that we can continue attracting production to Black Bear’s competitive, high-optionality services.”

Travis Boeker, Black Bear’s executive vice president for commercial, advised people to be on the lookout for projects that extend the company’s reach across the Texas border and throughout northern Louisiana.

“There has been increasing interest by regional pipelines targeting Gulf Coast markets to source gas within our catchment area,” said Boeker. “While we don’t have a dog in this long-haul fight, we believe it’s in our customer’s best interest to have options across these announced pipelines and we’re working to provide that optionality.”