Nine pipelines underway to feed US LNG facilities
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said December 12 there are nine intrastate or interstate pipelines under development in Texas and Louisiana that will deliver more than 20bn ft3/day of natural gas to Gulf Coast LNG projects.
In the latest update to its Natural Gas Pipeline Project Tracker, the EIA said about 13.5bn ft3/day of new capacity is under construction, with the balance either approved or partly completed. Some of the capacity is under the jurisdiction of the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, while the intrastate projects fall under the jurisdiction of the Texas Railroad Commission.
Each new LNG terminal on the Gulf Coast – Plaquemines in Louisiana and Golden Pass, Port Arthur, Corpus Christi Stage III and Rio Grande in Texas – has one or more pipeline projects associated with it. Together, the projects represent demand for about 10bn ft3/day of natural gas.
In southeast Texas, Golden Pass Pipeline is expanding its existing 69-mile pipeline between Starks, Louisiana and Jefferson County, Texas to enable the delivery of 2.5bn ft3/day to the brownfield Golden Pass LNG export terminal.
Port Arthur Pipeline Company has plans for two pipelines, the Louisiana Connector and the Texas Connector, which will each deliver 2bn ft3/day to the Port Arthur LNG terminal, also planned for Jefferson County, Texas.
In Louisiana, Venture Global is developing the two-line Gator Express project, with each line to deliver 2bn ft3/day to the Plaquemines LNG project south of New Orleans. Phase 1 of the project includes a 15-mile pipeline, while Phase 2 proposes a 12-mile pipeline.
Two other projects will also serve Plaquemines LNG, Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s 1.1bn ft3/day Evangeline Pass Expansion and Texas Eastern Transmission’s Venice Extension Project, which will replace an existing three-mile section of pipeline to enable deliveries of 1.3bn ft3/day.
In south Texas, Whitewater Midstream is building the 39-mile ADCC Pipeline to deliver 1.7bn ft3/day to Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi Stage III project.
Cheniere is also building the Corpus Christi Stage III Pipeline, a 21-mile conduit located withing an existing pipeline right-of-way that will provide 1.5bn ft3/day of capacity.
And Rio Bravo Pipeline is constructing a 138-mile twin pipeline system with a combined capacity of 4.5bn ft3/day that will deliver natural gas from the Aqua Dulce supply area to the Rio Grande LNG terminal in Brownsville, Texas.