Blue Racer Midstream LLC secured a five-year US $800 million credit facility, which can be expanded to $1 billion.

Formed in December 2012, Blue Racer is a joint venture between Caiman Energy II LLC and Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) dedicated to providing Utica producers with midstream services and the ability to receive the highest value for their products.

Together with the private equity commitment from Caiman and the midstream assets contributed by Dominion, the credit facility supports the execution of Blue Racer's aggressive plan to develop midstream assets in the Utica over the next two to three years, including natural gas gathering, processing, fractionation and NGL transportation.

Wells Fargo Securities LLC and RBS Securities Inc. were joint book-runners and joint lead arrangers. A syndicate of 19 banks participated in the credit facility with Comerica Bank, RBC Capital Markets, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc., and U.S. Bank National Association also acting as joint lead arrangers. The transaction closed on Aug. 16.

"We are delighted to have completed this financing with Wells Fargo and RBS and such a prestigious group of additional lenders. The size of the credit facility is a testament to our strong relationship with the financial community, the strength of Caiman and Dominion's track records and the tremendous response Blue Racer has received from our producer customers in the Utica shale. The proceeds will allow us to continue to execute our growth strategy for Blue Racer's midstream asset base while diversifying our sources of capital. Our goal is to continue to be the Utica's premier midstream company by providing superior customer service and the region's best opportunity to gather and process rich gas and market NGLS," said Jack Lafield, Blue Racer's CEO, in the release.

The credit facility follows last week's announcement that Dominion transferred ownership of the Natrium natural gas processing and fractionation plant to Blue Racer on Aug. 9. With cryogenic processing capacity of 200 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) already online, Natrium is the first large-scale processing plant to serve rich-gas production in the Utica. Blue Racer has already started construction of a second 200 MMcf/d cryogenic processing plant, Natrium II, which will bring the facility's total processing capacity to 400 MMcf/d by the end of 1Q 2014.

Blue Racer Midstream LLC is based in Dallas.