SemCAMS is the largest licensed processor of sour gas in Alberta, according to the company. Its status as solely a processor means it can give producers its full attention and resources.

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SemCAMS serves as an important link in the infrastructure of western Canada’s gas pipelines. President Darren Marine says the cornerstone of SemCAMS’s success lies in its customer-focused culture and its individualized approach to pro-cessing gas. SemCAMS gives its customers cost-effective and reliable solutions by maintaining a high level of service and accountability, he says.

The competitive nature of the natural gas industry and the number of existing producers has allowed SemCAMS to step forward as the midstream company of choice. “The benefit of not being a producer allows us to build long-term service partnerships with companies who rely on our experience and expertise,” Marine says. “Our customers are looking for a company whose focus is processing and gathering, not producing.”

With four gas processing plants and more than 600 miles of natural gas gathering pipeline in Alberta, SemCAMS is the largest licensed processor of sour gas in the province. The company’s four processing plants boast a combined licensed capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day. Three of those plants are based in west-central Alberta and specialize in processing sour gas. The fourth plant, in Alberta, processes sweet natural gas.

Already a significant player in Alberta, Marine says SemCAMS is preparing to leap into areas where drilling has been booming but very little infrastructure exists yet. “We’ve got a very diverse set of gathering lines in west-central Alberta and we’re actively pursuing opportunities to increase our infrastructure,” Marine says.

The company recently announced an agreement with two major area producers that will allow SemCAMS to operate in British Columbia, which will be the farthest northwest the company has operated to date. “We are expanding into a new frontier. Until now, we have always been an Alberta processor,” Marine says.

SemCAMS is a privately held company, which Marine says gives it the opportunity to be more flexible than other midstream companies. He says the company can afford to be more creative in finding solutions for customers. “We’re willing to take some risk on in order to tie volumes into our system and provide our customers with a better return,” he says.

Although other midstream service providers may ask customers to pay for all of the engineering work involved, SemCAMS explores all options.

“We look at each opportunity on its own merit, and traditionally you’ll see that the midstreamers look for 100 percent take-or-pay in their contracts,” Marine explains. “If we like the opportunity and it fits within SemCAMS’s growth strategy, we’ll certainly look at something less than 100 percent backstop. In some cases, we’re willing to share risk and cost.”

SemCAMS can also provide customers with priority access to its facilities and services. “A lot of producers, they hold off a certain amount of space for their own drilling needs,” Marine says. “That’s something that we don’t have to worry about.  We treat all the producers the same. This approach gives us a lot of flexibility to meet our customers’ unique needs.”