Hardly a day goes by without news related to U.S. LNG export capacity expansions, whether it’s upstream supply deals, offtake agreements or liquefaction capacity announcements. One project is nearing commercialization, another five are under construction and due for completion in the next few years, still others are fully or almost-fully subscribed and will be officially sanctioned any day now, and the announcements keep coming. Just days ago, Venture Global reached a final investment decision (FID) for the second phase of its Plaquemines LNG project. With export development accelerating in the coming years, more natural gas pipeline capacity will be needed, particularly for moving gas supply to the Louisiana coast, where the bulk of the new capacity will be sited. In today’s RBN blog, we continue our series highlighting the pipeline expansions targeting LNG export demand, this time focusing on projects moving gas to southeastern Louisiana, including those designed to deliver feedgas to Venture Global’s under-construction Plaquemines LNG project.
In the first part of this blog series, we started with an overview of the U.S. LNG export projects driving midstream development along the Gulf Coast, including those that are already operational, have reached FID, or are fully subscribed and on the cusp of reaching FID. In Louisiana (or just across the Texas border), these include Venture Global’s (VG) soon-to-be-operational Calcasieu Pass; QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil’s Golden Pass; the first phase of Sempra Energy’s Port Arthur LNG; and VG’s Plaquemines LNG in southeastern Louisiana, including Phases 1 and 2. In southeastern Texas, Cheniere sanctioned its Corpus Christi Stage III project last summer, while NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG in Brownsville, TX, is also closing in on FID.
In addition, there are numerous other greenfield facilities proposed for the Texas-Louisiana coast that are working to secure the regulatory approvals and/or commercial commitments to reach FID, including Energy Transfer’s Lake Charles LNG, VG’s CP2 LNG, Tellurian’s already-under-construction Driftwood LNG, and VG’s Delta LNG, among others. As for brownfield expansions, Cheniere is considering another midscale expansion at Corpus Christi, while Sempra’s Cameron LNG and Freeport LNG have announced Train 4 expansions. Cheniere also recently announced a major, 20 million tons per annum (MMtpa; ~2.6 Bcf/d) expansion of its Sabine Pass LNG facility. (For a complete list and map of projects, including offshore facilities, see the LNG Voyager Quarterly.)
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