Most Recent Past Projects

Beta Crude Connector

The Beta Crude Connector, LLC (“BCC”) project is the most recent showcase of Frontier continued success as a premier midstream solutions provider, this time in the heart of the Midland Basin.

The BCC system provided crude oil gathering and transportation services in the Midland Basin across Martin, Midland, Ector and Andrews Counties, Texas. The BCC gathering and transportation system supported the continued growth in midstream demand from persistent growth in drilling activity in the Midland Basin.

The BCC system consisted of approximately 100 miles of crude oil transportation pipeline and approximately 200,000 barrels of operational storage in the Midland Basin of West Texas. The pipeline had the capacity to deliver approximately 150,000 barrels per day of crude oil to multiple delivery points, accessing local refineries and connecting to multiple downstream pipelines.

Tying producer volume directly into multiple refinery markets and the rapidly growing Gulf Coast export markets, BCC provided customers with a reliable system with the optionality to get barrels off of trucks, receive barrels at the lease tank battery and provide producers with access to downstream markets by providing optionality, reliability, competitive pricing, and timing advantage.

BCC was a joint venture between ConocoPhillips Company (“Conoco”) and Frontier. Conoco and Frontier each own a 50% equity interest in BCC, with Frontier serving as operator. BCC is a FERC regulated common carrier pipeline which continues to support multiple producers in the basin. Frontier sold its interest to ConocoPhillips.

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Alpha Crude Connector

Named Project of the Year by Hart Energy’s Midstream Business

About the Alpha Crude Connector

The Alpha Crude Connector is a 500+ mile crude oil transmission system with more than 300,000 barrels of crude oil storage capacity that is turning today’s energy vision into tomorrow’s energy solutions for the vast Northern Delaware Basin. It was constructed to accommodate soaring oil and gas production in the prolific Permian Basin and now provides access to multiple downstream markets via interconnects with three major pipelines, as well as to two local refineries and a rail terminal.

The Alpha Crude Connector provides an unprecedented structure for shippers to obtain low-cost, long-term capacity without volume commitments. Simply put, the pipeline provides the optionality to transport crude oil to preferred markets while leveraging pricing power.

Frontier’s Role

A 50/50 joint venture with Concho Resources, Frontier designed and constructed the Alpha Crude Connector project and operated the system to provide pipeline connectivity for hundreds of crude oil wells to numerous market outlets in the Northern Delaware Basin. Producers and marketers, who once had to cope with uncertain and underdeveloped county and lease roads over some five million acres, now save $1 to $2 per barrel by transporting product through the Alpha Crude Connector.

To bring this project to fruition, Frontier dedicated its extensive resources to overcome significant regulatory and environmental barriers. Frontier’s expertise guided the project through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Bureau of Land Management, the State of New Mexico, and 12 other governmental agencies that oversee permitting requirements in this protected area. Frontier’s vast experience and entrepreneurial spirit prevailed and the Alpha Crude Connector is a FERC regulated pipeline that provides our customers with transparency, commitment, flexibility, flow assurance, and downstream optionality.

These efforts resulted in Hart Energy’s Midstream Business naming the Alpha Crude Connector as its 2015 Project of the Year.

And in January 2017, Plains All American Pipeline announced its decision to acquire the Alpha Crude Connector pipeline gathering and storage system for $1.2 billion. That’s the kind of results we like to see come from building and maintaining successful partnerships.

Frontier looks forward to putting this same expertise to work for our customers in plays across the U.S.