Linn Energy Inc. said July 13 that it has renamed its midstream affiliate, which is set to build a cryogenic plant in the heart of Oklahoma's Merge shale play.

Linn Midstream LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Linn Energy with assets in the Chisholm Trail midstream business in central Oklahoma, has been renamed Blue Mountain Midstream LLC.

Additionally, Linn said Blue Mountain entered an agreement with BCCK Engineering Inc. to construct a 225 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) cryogenic gas processing facility in the Chisholm Trail area.

The Chisholm cryogenic plant will have total capacity of 250 MMcf/d and is expected to be commissioned second-quarter 2018. Linn Energy acreage recently contributed to Roan Resources LLC remains dedicated to Chisholm Trail.

"Constructing the Chisholm Trail cryogenic plant meaningfully increases our growing midstream business," Mark E. Ellis, Linn Energy's president and CEO, said in a statement. "Our dedicated acreage in the Merge and this focused investment give us a tremendous competitive advantage."

In late June, Linn Energy said it was spinning off part of its Oklahoma acreage to form Roan Resources as part of an agreement with privately-funded Citizen Energy II LLC.

The Chisholm Trail area, located in the heart of the prolific liquids-rich Merge/Scoop/Stack shale plays, has about 30 miles of existing gas gathering pipeline and roughly 60 MMcf/d of current refrigeration capacity.

Linn Energy said Chisholm Trail infrastructure expansions are underway to add 35 miles of low-pressure gathering, increase compression throughput and construct a new cryogenic plant to improve liquids recoveries.