Taking a nine- or 10-figure energy infrastructure project from concept to fruition is never easy. Siting dilemmas, permitting woes, commitment-wary customers, financing snags, legal challenges — there are seemingly endless hurdles. And that’s in normal times. Add in market volatility and fast-changing governmental policies and a developer’s job becomes darn-near impossible. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss midstream companies’ uphill battle in advancing infrastructure projects in 2025, focusing on a recently announced greenfield natural gas storage project along the Texas Gulf Coast.
As we said in our Drill Down Report on Gulf Coast gas storage last fall, rising demand for storage — and, just as important, rising storage values — have spurred a number of midstreamers to either expand their existing facilities in the region or enter the space with acquisitions or plans for greenfield projects. The key driver is that, unlike in the old days, when the storage market was driven primarily by the intrinsic value of capacity — i.e., the need to sock away gas in the lower-demand summer months for use in the peak winter months — the value of storage today is being driven mostly by extrinsic economics — i.e., how flexible and responsive capacity allows market participants to manage supply and demand week by week, day by day and even hour by hour.
This is especially true along the Gulf Coast, where rising gas production, increasingly undulating demand for gas (tied in part to the ups and downs of wind and solar power), frequent extreme weather events, new LNG export capacity, and plans for tens of thousands of megawatts (MW) of new gas-fired power generation (for expanding power grids as well as for data centers) have been increasing the value of gas storage or, more specifically, the merit of quickly injecting and withdrawing gas to respond to market swings — and, for LNG export terminals in particular, the need to quickly divert scheduled gas deliveries to storage if liquefaction capacity trips offline.
There’s a catch, though: To get any project off the ground, storage values need to be high enough to support project development costs, and prospective customers considering multiyear commitments need to have a high degree of confidence that their investment can be justified over the long haul.
Types of Natural Gas Storage Facilities
Figure 1. Types of Natural Gas Storage Facilities. Sources: American Gas Association and American Petroleum Institute
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About the song
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” was written by Michael Jackson and appears as the first song on side one of Michael Jackson’s sixth studio album, Thriller. Released as the fourth single from the album in May 1983, it went to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart and has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song was originally recorded in 1978 for inclusion on Jackson’s Off the Wall album but was re-recorded in 1982 for release on Thriller. Personnel on the record were: Michael Jackson (vocals, drum programming), Greg Phillinganes (Fender Rhodes, synthesizer), Michael Boddicker, Bill Wolfer (synthesizers), David Williams (guitar), Louis Johnson (bass), Paulinho da Costa (percussion), Jerry Hay, Gary Grant (trumpet, flugelhorn), Larry Williams (saxophone, flute), Bill Reichenbach (trombone), and Julia, Maxine, Orah Waters, James Ingram, Bunny Hull and Becky Lopez (backing vocals).
Thriller was recorded between April to November 1982 at Westlake in Los Angeles with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson producing. Released in November 1982, it went to #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and has been certified 34x Platinum by the RIAA. Seven singles were released from the LP.
Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, dancer and record producer known as the “King of Pop.” Jackson got his professional start in 1964 at the age of six, singing in his family’s group, The Jackson 5. He started his solo career in 1972 with the release of his debut solo studio album, Got to Be There. As a solo artist, he released 10studio albums, five soundtrack albums, 55 compilation albums and 67 singles and has sold more than 500 million records worldwide. Jackson is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice), National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Vocal Group Hall of Fame and Dance Hall of Fame. He has won 13 Grammy Awards and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Jackson died at his home in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles in June 2009 at the age of 50.
