RE:RE:RE:well marginThanks. A separator at the well head is not a gas processing plant. TXP will build a separator at the well head but that is not called a natural gas processing plant. NGC has one or more and supplies various components of natural gas to a number of different users. The separator at the well head just pulls out heavier components (usually pentanes or higher) that are sold directly into an oil pipeline. The rest goes to the natural gas pipeline that carries it to a natural-gas processing plant. TXP doesn't have to build one and doesn't have to fill one. NGC does all that, In Canada some E and P companies have their own natural-gas processing plants. (example Advantage Energy). But many smaller or even bigger companies sell the gas to a mid-stream company that collects and processes the gas. Some of the big companies have a midstream subsidiary. It is all complicated. TXP arrangement with NGC is pretty simple. Separate and sell the liquids. NGC collects the gas at wellhead and pays a fixed price for it right there. NGC does everything else.
Natural-gas processing plants purify raw natural gas by removing contaminants such as solids, water, carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), mercury and higher molecular mass hydrocarbons. Some of the substances which contaminate natural gas have economic value and are further processed or sold. An operational natural gas plant delivers pipeline-quality dry natural gas that can be used as fuel by residential, commercial and industrial consumers, or as a feedstock for chemical synthesis.