Express Yourself, Part 3 - What REX Pipeline's Contract Changes Mean for Gas Flows, Prices

For much of the time since it began operations, the capacity on Tallgrass Energy’s Rockies Express Pipeline has been contracted and utilized at high rates for long-haul flows east from the Rockies to the Midwest. Specifically, the pipeline consistently has had between 1.3 and 1.8 Bcf/d out of a total 1.8 Bcf/d contracted, mostly for 10-year terms. That all changed in the past year, however, as the original long-term shipper contracts that took effect in 2009 came due and the pipeline experienced a major decontracting, with the bulk of the contracts rolling off in November 2019. Since then, a number of open seasons led to a partial recontracting. Tallgrass also is developing two projects — Cheyenne Connector and REX Cheyenne Hub Enhancement — that could increase flows to REX later this year. Today, we continue a series providing an update on eastbound pipeline contracts and gas flows on REX.

Tallgrass Energy’s Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) has been through a lot in its 10-plus years of operation. Since its first eastbound-only segments started moving natural gas out of the Rockies in 2008, flows on the pipeline have evolved due to market events, primarily the onset of the Shale Revolution, which has resulted in a surge of gas supplies in the Eastern U.S. and increasing gas-on-gas competition across North America. Rising to the challenge, REX has undergone a number of transformations to adapt to the shifting gas flow patterns and price relationships, including reversing flows on the eastern zone of the pipe to move gas west from Ohio. In 2019, REX was again put to the test, this time on the western end of the pipe, where the bulk of its legacy long-term contracts for eastbound flows out of the Rockies expired, with the last of them rolling off on November 11, 2019. Some of that has since been recontracted, and the in-service of the REX Cheyenne Hub Enhancement and Cheyenne Connector projects could further shore up REX mainline flows. Today, we begin a short series providing an update on REX’s eastbound gas flows and contract changes.

After a months-long regulatory delay, two Tallgrass Energy-led natural gas projects have progressed in the past month that will expand takeaway options out of the growing Denver-Julesburg (D-J) production area. Tallgrass in early October began construction on the Cheyenne Connector pipeline and the Rockies Express Pipeline’s Cheyenne Hub Enhancement — aimed at expanding outbound capacity and destination optionality for growing natural gas supplies from the Denver-Julesburg play in the Niobrara Shale, as well as providing a new outlet for Powder River Basin gas. The projects also have secured additional capacity commitments in recent weeks. And in its earnings call last week, Tallgrass said that DCP Midstream, which was already a shipper on Cheyenne Connector, has exercised its option to purchase 50% interest in the project. The influx of gas supply at Cheyenne Hub resulting from these projects will boost eastbound flows on Rockies Express (REX), which is in the midst of recontracting its capacity as existing long-term contracts roll off today. Next, we provide an update on the company’s plans to increase takeaway capacity out of the D-J basin and PRB.