Sempra Infrastructure promotes former lead executive in Mexico who advanced LNG and utility projects
Sempra Infrastructure, the owner of the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana and with other LNG interests in the US and Mexico, has named Tania Ortiz Mena has President of the company.
Pipeline giant Kinder Morgan reports higher profits and cash flow from Gulf Coast system and LNG feed gas
Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) the leading US pipeline feed-gas company for liquefied natural gas plants and a key energy infrastructure developer, increased first-quarter net income and cash flow with more natural gas from the US Gulf Coast shale-gas basins.
The company reported first-quarter net income attributable to KMI of $679 million compared with $667M in the first three months of 2022.
Cash flow for the quarter from operations amounted to $1.33 billion versus $1.08Bln in the prior-year quarter.
“Our natural gas pipeline network is composed of some 70,000 miles of interstate and intrastate pipelines that move about 40 percent of US natural gas production, along with 700 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage, comprising 15 percent of total US natural gas storage capacity,” explained Steve Kean, KMI Chief Executive.
“While the US Congress debates much-needed infrastructure permitting reform, the system we operate under today makes it difficult to permit new natural gas pipelines in much of the country,” Kean stated.
Value added
“That in turn increases the value of our existing natural gas pipeline systems, which results in a favorable recontracting environment,” the CEO added.
“With a large portion of our existing natural gas pipeline network in Texas and Louisiana, we also benefit from our ability to expand to meet growing demand in the most infrastructure-friendly region of the country,” Kean said.
KMI said it was continuing to execute expansions of its existing natural gas pipeline systems.
“During the first quarter we made good progress on two such expansions. One will add approximately 550 million cubic feet per day of capacity to the Permian Highway Pipeline (PHP) system through additional compression with minimal new pipeline build,” said KMI.
“The other will increase capacity and reliability of services to Con Edison, a key business partner, by upgrading and adding compression facilities on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) system in a critical region of the country,” the company added.
Gas gathering
KMI President Kim Dang gave an overview and praised the gas gathering systems for keeping the natural gas business on track.
“The Natural Gas Pipelines business segment’s financial performance was up in the first quarter of 2023 relative to the first quarter of 2022, primarily on higher contributions from our Texas Intrastate system, from Midcontinent Express Pipeline, from El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) and from most of our gathering system assets,” explained Dang.
“Natural gas transport volumes were up 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022, primarily from increases on EPNG due to returning a pipeline to service, cooler weather, and the retirement of a coal-fired power plant,” she added.
“Natural gas gathering volumes were up 18 percent from the first quarter of 2022 primarily from our Haynesville and Eagle Ford systems,” Dang said.
Largest US natural gas producer EQT Corp. cuts emissions to help increase global appetite for US LNG
EQT Corp. the largest producer of natural gas in the United States through hydraulic fracturing, has announced the completion of a programme to eliminate methane emissions from natural gas-powered pneumatic devices in production operations.
