LNG

Energy Transfer, the US company with natural gas midstream, intrastate and interstate transport and storage assets as well as owning the Lake Charles LNG export project, has received permission from regulators to put the Gulf Run pipeline in service as a provider of LNG feed gas and volumes for the domestic market.

The newly constructed 135-mile, 42-inch natural gas pipeline in Louisiana has a capacity of 1.65 billion cubic feet per day with potential growth opportunities.

The pipeline is owned by Gulf Run Transmission LLC, a subsidiary of Dallas, Texas-based Energy Transfer,

“The pipeline will deliver domestically produced natural gas from key US producing regions to meet the rapidly growing demand along the Gulf Coast and international markets,” said Energy Transfer.

Gulf Run receives natural gas from Energy Transfer’s extensive intrastate and interstate pipeline network, including production directly from the Haynesville Shale.

The company noted that volumes originating from all the major natural gas basins in the US have access to the Gulf Run pipeline, including the Permian Basin, the Barnett Shale, the Marcellus and Utica shales, East Texas, the Arkoma and the Anadarko basins.

Two zones

The pipeline consists of two zones for connections. They are Zone 1 connecting the Carthage Hub to the Perryville markets and Zone 2 extending south and connecting to the Golden Pass Pipeline and to Energy Transfer’s Trunkline system.

The Golden Pass Pipeline is 69 miles in length and is a central part of Golden Pass joint venture LNG project between QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil and with the first liquefaction Train scheduled to come on stream by 2024.

The three-Train plant is on the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas and will have around 16 million tonnes per annum of LNG output.

“The Zone 1 segment has bi-directional flow capabilities, providing the ability to deliver significant volumes to Perryville as well as to the Golden Pass and Trunkline systems,” explained Energy Transfer.

At Lake Charles in Louisiana, Energy Transfer is itself developing the Lake Charles LNG plant on the Calcasieu Ship Channel.

The project will convert Energy Transfer’s existing Lake Charles import and regasification terminal into a liquefaction facility with 16.45 MTPA of exports.

Energy Transfer has signed significant long term LNG offtake contracts and with more in preparation.

The company operates more than 8,800 miles of pipeline in Louisiana and owns and operates more than 110,000 miles of pipeline and related infrastructure across 40 other states transporting natural gas, crude oil, natural gas liquids and refined products.

Japanese LNG importer Tokyo Gas has acquired more US shale gas assets in East Texas and Louisiana after closing a transaction with a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell.

Tokyo Gas, the Japanese utility and importer of 14 million tonnes per annum of LNG, said fiscal half-year net sales from April to September increased by 9.4 percent as it benefited from the nations liberalization of the utility sector and from diversifying and expanding the sources of its LNG imports.

Devon Energy Corp. said it had agreed to sell a portion of its Barnett Shale position in North Texas for $553 million with a transaction expected to close in the second quarter.

US independent exploration and production company Devon Energy said it planned to sell upstream shale-gas assets worth around $1 billion, mostly in the Barnett shale area and which could be attractive to European and Asian LNG liquefaction tolling agreement holders.

French energy company Total said its US subsidiary would exercise its pre-emption right to acquire the 75 percent interests in a Barnett Shale operating area located in North Texas held jointly with Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest producer of natural gas in the US after ExxonMobil.