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.

Baker Hughes-GE, the US energy services and equipment company, said it was awarded the contract to supply turbomachinery for the construction of the Golden Pass LNG export facility in Texas following the recent decision by Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil to go ahead with the venture.

Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have made a final investment decision to proceed with development of the Golden Pass LNG export project in Texas and have awarded construction contracts to a US-Japanese consortium for work to begin within weeks and for the facility to be operational in 2024.

“Golden Pass will provide an increased, reliable, long-term supply of liquefied natural gas to global gas markets, stimulate local growth and create thousands of jobs,” said ExxonMobil Chairman and Chief Executive Darren Woods.

An engineering consortium comprising McDermott and Zachry Group of the US and Japan’s Chiyoda Corp. have been awarded the contract to build the plant.

“The extensive experience of ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum provides the expertise, resources and financial strength needed to construct and operate an integrated liquefaction and export facility in the US,” added Woods.

The Golden Pass project is located on the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas. It is 70 percent-owned by Qatar Petroleum while ExxonMobil holds the remaining 30 percent stake, having acquired 15 percent from former shareholder ConocoPhillips.

Originally designed as an import facility before the shale-gas revolution, Golden Pass will be reconfigured at a cost of more than $10 billion to export up to 15.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

“It is expected to create about 9,000 jobs over the five-year construction period and more than 200 permanent jobs during operations,” said ExxonMobil.

McDermott, Chiyoda and Zachry will perform engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of three Trains, each with capacity to produce 5.2 MTPA.

“McDermott has extensive experience in executing major projects along the US Gulf Coast,” said Richard Heo, McDermott's regional Senior Vice President.

“We will apply not only our vertically-integrated capabilities but also some of the best practices and lessons learned for major construction projects in the region,” he explained.

“We will also leverage the existing relationships we have with our partners and our customers to ensure that the Golden Pass project is a success,” stated the McDermott executive.

Golden Pass is part of ExxonMobil’s plans to invest more than $50 billion over the next five years to build and expand manufacturing facilities in the US.

“This project builds upon the successful international relationship between ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum, with Qatar Petroleum joining ExxonMobil in exploration and development activities in Argentina, Brazil and Mozambique,” said the US major.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has already approved the Golden Pass project, concluding that it “would result in some adverse environmental impact, though impacts would not be significant with implementation of proposed mitigation” by the developers and the regulators.

ExxonMobil has extensive assets in the US Gulf Coast area and is the biggest leaseholder in the Permian Basin, which it owns in parallel with pipelines and petrochemical infrastructure and plants that extend from South Texas into Louisiana.

The FERC has also approved permits for the associated Golden Pass Pipeline linking the plant to the major pipelines bringing in shale-gas resources.

ExxonMobil’s growing Gulf expansion programme consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and energy projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

ExxonMobil Chief Executive Darren Woods said he expected to make progress on the Golden Pass export project in Texas with partner Qatar Petroleum and would make a formal announcement in the near future about that venture and others on the Gulf Coast.