Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.

Infrastructure | LNG | NGI All News Access

Columbia Gulf Transmission LLC is seeking additional time to construct the last planned compressor station that would expand natural gas throughput to Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass LNG terminal on the Gulf Coast.

In a letter to FERC last week, TC Energy affiliate Columbia Gulf said it needs until Dec. 31 to construct and make available for service the Shelburn Compressor Station, the final one to be built for the Louisiana XPress Project (LAXP) [CP19-488]. As part of its certificate of public convenience and necessity, the project was scheduled to be fully operational by Sept. 17.

LAXP includes constructing three greenfield compressor stations, modifications at one existing compressor station and related facilities. The expansion would create 850 MMcf of open access firm transportation capacity from a primary receipt point at Columbia Gulf’s Mainline Pool to an interconnection with Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline in Evangeline Parish, LA.

[Want today’s Henry Hub, Houston Ship Channel and Chicago Citygate prices? Check out NGI’s daily natural gas price snapshot now . ]

Columbia Gulf told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that unexpected settlement issues that arose at the Chicot and Shelburn stations during the final phases of construction resulted in a delay from the initial project in-service date of last February. The pipeline has since completed remediation activities at Chicot and subsequently placed the compressor station into service. It began flowing partial, incremental volumes on July 1.

Columbia Gulf and the project shipper continue to have an agreement for the remaining incremental project volume once full in-service is achieved, it told regulators.

The pipeline is continuing work at the Shelburn station to complete remediation activities. These include helical pile installation, nondestructive weld evaluation, cuts and welds on small bore piping, excavation, dewatering and final restoration activities. Based on the contractor’s current progress of the resulting remediation plans, and the remaining testing activities once facilities are complete, full in-service is expected between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1.

Columbia Gulf in its request said the geopolitical need for project capacity has recently grown “exponentially” since Russia invaded Ukraine. Europe, which became a premium market for liquefied natural gas in the months prior to the war because of dwindling supplies on the continent, has furthered its calls for U.S. exports as part of an effort to cut its reliance on Russia –  its top gas supplier.

“The United States is leading a coalition of global partners in pushing back,” Columbia Gulf said. “By providing 800,000 Dth/d to an LNG liquefaction facility, the project will significantly help the United States meet these vital policy goals and commitments.”

Cheniere’s sixth train at Sabine Pass entered service in February, boosting the facility’s production capacity to 30 million metric tons/year. The project was sanctioned in June 2019 and initially was expected to come online by 2023.

Cheniere also sanctioned the stage 3 expansion at its Corpus Christi LNG facility in June. The project would add seven midscale liquefaction trains and 10 million metric tons/year of capacity.

© 2022 Natural Gas Intelligence. All rights reserved.

ISSN © 2577-9877  |  ISSN © 2158-8023  | 

Related topics: ferc Louisiana XPress Project Russia Tc Energy

email leticia.gonzales@naturalgasintel.com

NGI’s Shale Price Tracker

Listen to NGI’s ‘Hub & Flow’

Despite dings along the way, weekly cash prices gained ground amid lofty temperatures across much of the Lower 48 and inconsistent production levels. NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. for the July 25-28 period advanced 40.5 cents to $8.655. Robust cooling demand fueled strong advances for physical prices on Monday and Tuesday. Prices pulled back…

Believing that transparent markets empower businesses, economies, and communities, Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) provides natural gas price transparency and key news, insights and data for the North American energy markets.

1.800.427.5747 info@naturalgasintel.com Washington DC | New York | Houston | Pittsburgh | Mexico City Calgary | Chile

© 2022 Natural Gas Intelligence. All rights reserved.

You have 3 free articles remaining. Get access to 100,000+ more news articles & industry data.

View Subscription Options Sign In