Of the six interstate pipelines that account for most of the natural gas crossing the Texas/Louisiana state line, two have net flows that are westbound into Texas––something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. By the end of this decade—and maybe far sooner—Texas will be receiving more gas from Louisiana than vice versa, mostly due to planned pipeline reversals aimed at moving more Marcellus/Utica gas to Texas export markets. Today we continue our look at changing Texas gas flows, this time with a focus on the half-dozen most important pipelines at the Texas/Louisiana border.

As we said in Part 1 of this series, the natural gas flow patterns that characterized the U.S. energy-delivery sector for the decades preceding the Shale Revolution are gradually being undone, and Texas is more affected than most. The state remains the nation’s largest natural gas producer, and while output from the Eagle Ford, the Barnett Shale and other production areas is down, Texas still produces nearly twice as much gas as it consumes within its borders. But traditional Northeast and Midwest markets for Texas gas are being ceded to Marcellus/Utica producers, and more and more Northeast gas is flowing south/southwest to the western Gulf Coast, drawn by power/industrial demand, new LNG export terminals and rising pipeline-gas exports to Mexico. We identified the five traditional “exit points” for gas leaving Texas (two through Louisiana, one each through Oklahoma and New Mexico, and one to eastern Mexico), and described how the flows of Texas gas to most other parts of the U.S. (except for the Southwest) have been falling fast. For example, flows through the corridor we define as Exit Point A into southern Louisiana (and from there to the U.S. Southeast) have plummeted 62% (to only 0.5 Bcf/d) in 2016 year to date compared to 2015, and in the past few months flows have actually flipped, with net flows now running west into southeastern Texas, not out of it. Meanwhile, flows of Texas gas into northern Louisiana (and from there to the U.S. Northeast and Midwest) through our Exit Point B corridor have averaged only 3.6 Bcf/d so far in 2016, down 25% from where they stood in 2014 (4.8 Bcf/d).

RBN NATGAS Haynesville

The RBN NATGAS Haynesville is a weekly natural gas fundamentals analysis focused on supply, flow, and LNG-driven demand dynamics within the Haynesville basin.

While there are no fewer than a dozen interstate pipelines at exit points A and B, much of the shift in flows to date has occurred on six interstate pipelines that provide almost all of the capacity across the Texas-Louisiana border. They are Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas pipeline (TGP) and Natural Gas Pipeline of America (NGPL), Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission Co. system (TETCO), Williams’ Transco Pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners’ Trunkline, and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners’ Gulf South Pipeline. There are a few other pipelines with capacity between Texas and Louisiana; most either provide capacity at Exit Point B or flow relatively small volumes at Exit Point A. For example, Florida Gas Transmission (FGT), a 50/50 venture of Kinder Morgan and Energy Transfer, flows through Exit Point A, but it only provides about 3.5% (or about 0.3 Bcf/d) of the total cross-border capacity in place.

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About the song

“The Times They Are a-Changin’” was written by Bob Dylan and appears as the first song on side one on Bob Dylan’s third studio album of the same name. Dylan wrote the song to be an anthem for change. It became a rallying cry for the civil rights and anti-war movement in the U.S. in the 1960s and remains a timeless classic song of strength for troubled times. It was released as a single in the U.K. in 1965, where it went to #9 in the U.K. Singles chart. Surprisingly, it was not released as a single in the U.S. The song has been covered by many artists, including Peter, Paul and Mary; Joan Baez, The Byrds, Bruce Springsteen, and Brandi Carlile. In December 2010, Dylan’s hand-written lyrics of the song sold at auction at Sotheby's in New York City for $422,500. Personnel on the record were: Bob Dylan (lead vocal, acoustic guitar, harmonica).

The album, The Times They Are a-Changin', was recorded between August and October 1963 at the Columbia 7th Ave. studio in New York City and produced by Tom Wilson. Released in February 1964 (days after The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan), it went to #20 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and has been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. No singles were released from the LP in the U.S. 

Bob Dylan is an American singer and songwriter. He has been an iconic international figure in popular culture for over six decades and has released 40 studio albums, 16 live albums, 31 compilation albums, seven soundtrack albums, 24 EPs, and 102 singles. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and is a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Polar Music Prize, France’s Legion d’Honneur, and a Nobel Prize in Literature. Dylan is also known for his paintings, drawings and books. His most recent book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” contains essays on 66 songs by artists who have influenced him. Dylan still records and tours and is appearing with Willie Nelson, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at the Outlaw Music Festival Tour in the U.S., which began in late June 2024 and continues through September 2024. Dylan’s archives are housed at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, which opened in May 2022.

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