MarkWest Sells Starfish Stake - Analyst Blog

Natural gas pipeline operator MarkWest Energy Partners LP (MWE) announced the sale of its 50% non-controlling interest in the Starfish Pipeline Company LLC to Enbridge Offshore (Gas Transmission) LLC, a unit of Canadian energy company Enbridge Inc. (ENB). The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

MarkWest bought the stake in 2005 from an affiliate of Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) for $42.1 million. Following the announcement of the sale, MarkWest units hit a 52-week high of $30.25. 
 
The Starfish asset divestiture, effective Dec 31, 2009, is part of MarkWest’s ongoing strategy to continue developing its position in the onshore resource plays. The partnership is currently the largest gatherer in the Woodford Shale in southeast Oklahoma, the largest gatherer and processor in the Marcellus Shale play in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and has a growing presence in the Granite Wash formation in Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle areas and Haynesville Shale in Northwest Louisiana and East Texas. MarkWest intends to use the sale proceeds to further develop infrastructure to serve its producer customers in these rapidly expanding areas. 
 
Denver, Colorado-based MarkWest Energy Partners LP, a master limited partnership (MLP), is engaged in the gathering, processing and transmission of natural gas, transportation, fractionation and storage of natural gas liquids (NGLs), and the gathering and transportation of crude oil.

The partnership is one of the largest processors of natural gas in the Appalachian region and has a significant presence in the other prolific natural gas producing basins of the U.S. MarkWest’s customers include major oil and gas companies, large and small independent energy companies, and oil refineries.

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