The Dark Horse Sour Gas Treating and Carbon Capture Facility

Components of the Piñon assets include:

  • A state-of-the-art amine treating facility designed and engineered to treat any concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
  • Two-tower sour condensate stabilization system.
  • An acid gas injection well (Independence AGI #1) that will sequester H2S and CO2 into Devonian-era rock formations approximately 18,000 feet below the earth’s surface. With respect to permitted single-well injection capacity, the Independence AGI #1 ranks as one of the largest-capacity sequestration wells in the Permian Basin. In fact, the well is the deepest and largest-capacity acid gas injection well in New Mexico.  
  • A second acid gas injection well, the Independence AGI #2, is on schedule to be drilled during the summer of 2022, with a targeted in-service date of January 2023. 
  • 40,000 horsepower of field compression and associated high-pressure gathering pipelines all meeting full NACE specifications to gather any concentrations of H2S/CO2.
  • 20-mile, 20-inch sweet gas pipeline that delivers treated sweet/rich gas to multiple third-party processing plants.

The Dark Horse facility has two amine trains in operation, with total sour gas treating capacity of 170 million cubic feet per day. A third amine train has been purchased and is scheduled to enter service in January 2023. The third amine train will increase total capacity to 255 million cubic feet per day. The Dark Horse facility is expandable to accommodate up to four amine trains, representing a capacity of 340 million cubic feet per day.

Pinon Midstream operations map

Why Is This Facility Needed?

The northeastern Delaware Basin is an area where oil and gas producers have faced challenges that have limited their ability to deliver gas to processing plants due to extreme concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the gas stream. This has forced operators to flare sour gas, shut-in wells, or delay drilling activity, eliminating an important resource development opportunity and revenue stream.

Piñon’s solution significantly enhances the economics of oil and gas development in this part of the Delaware Basin. Our H2S and CO2 removal and sequestration solution allows producers to drill wells and produce gas from locations known to have extreme concentrations of sour gas. Piñon sweetens the gas and transports it by pipeline to multiple processing plants for processing and sale.

Positive Environmental Impacts

Treating sour gas at the Dark Horse facility allows oil and gas companies — our customers — to make positive, measurable environmental impacts. These positive impacts include thwarting the formation of acid rain, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and greatly reducing flaring.