gas exports

There may be ongoing uncertainty about the timing and volumes, but it’s not difficult to anticipate that natural gas flows through the Agua Dulce Hub near Corpus Christi will be rising significantly over the next few years as new LNG export capacity starts up and new gas-fired power plants come online in South Texas and south of the border in Mexico. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the status of the pipelines under development to transport gas into and out of Agua Dulce and the LNG facilities and power plants being planned and built to receive that gas. We’ll also look at our forecast for pipeline-corridor flows in the Agua Dulce area. 

In just a few years’ time, the Agua Dulce Hub in South Texas has become an increasingly busy, complex and important crossroads for natural gas pipelines. Every day, more than 7.5 Bcf of gas flows through the hub’s inbound and outbound pipes, linking Permian and Eagle Ford supplies to gas demand centers along the Texas coast and in Mexico — LNG export terminals, power generators and industrial, commercial and residential customers. And if you think Agua Dulce is big now, just wait. In today’s RBN blog, we continue our in-depth look at Agua Dulce with an analysis of the growing gas volumes into and out of the hub, the pipelines handling those flows, and the key sources of incremental demand.

Every day, more than 7.5 Bcf of natural gas flows through the Agua Dulce Hub region in South Texas — 1.7 times the volume five years ago. And the hub’s growth is just beginning. By 2030, flows may well top 11.5 Bcf/d as gas production ramps up in the Permian and the Eagle Ford, pipeline exports to Mexico increase, and new LNG export capacity comes online along the South Texas coast. In today’s RBN blog, we begin a detailed look at the Agua Dulce Hub — its origins, its development during the Shale Era, its major players and its potential to become a major gas trading hub.

The current winter heating season in Canada has seen extremes of warmth and cold, but much more of the former than the latter. Given that the Canadian natural gas market was already oversupplied and struggling with record-high gas storage levels as winter approached, even the most intense cold blast in mid-January wasn’t enough to return the supply/demand balance north of the 49th parallel to anything near normal. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss where the Canadian market stands as the calendar turns to February and what that might mean for end-of-winter gas balances. 

Kinder Morgan owns and operates natural gas pipelines across pretty much every part of the U.S., from California to Massachusetts and North Dakota to Florida. But if you look at a map of its gas pipeline assets, you’ll notice a focus on lines in the Lone Star State that serve as critical pathways for Permian- and Eagle Ford-sourced gas flowing to Mexico, Texas’s Gulf Coast and a number of existing and planned LNG export terminals. Now, Kinder is poised to significantly expand its pipeline network in that part of the world with the planned $1.8 billion acquisition of NextEra Energy Partners’ STX Midstream unit, as we discuss in today’s RBN blog. 

Mexico probably has enough shale gas to meet its needs ‘til the vacas—or cows—come home. For technological, security and other reasons, though, it will take years for that now-trapped gas to be tapped on a large scale. In the meantime, Mexico is turning to U.S. gas suppliers, and billions of dollars of new pipelines are being built to transport vast amounts of gas south of the border from the Permian Basin, the Eagle Ford and other plays to run Mexican power plants and factories. Today we consider recent developments in U.S. gas exports to our southern neighbor.

<p>The natural gas supply demand story has been dominated all year by the record storage overhang from 2011 and whether 2012 gas storage injections could continue until October or November without hitting the wall - i.e. completely filling storage capacity.</p>