Enbridge to Supply More Natural Gas to Venture Global's LNG Export Project

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--U.S. federal regulators are opening the doors to new pipeline projects that would supply shale-derived natural gas to export terminals along the Gulf Coast. Case in point: Enbridge Incorporated (NYSE:ENB) (Calgary, Alberta) announced earlier this week it would build two pipeline projects to deliver an additional 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to Venture Global LNG Incorporated's (Arlington, Virginia) Plaquemines LNG plant in Louisiana. Industrial Info is tracking both projects.

Enbridge's Venice Extension Project and Gator Express Meter Project will cover pipeline, metering and compressor-station additions and improvements, which will be underpinned by long-term take or pay contracts, according to a press release from Enbridge. The Venice Extension Project's major components include:

• a compressor-station unit addition in New Roads, Louisiana; see project report
• a compressor-station unit addition in White Castle, Louisiana; see project report
• a compressor-station unit addition in Larose, Louisiana; see project report
• a 3.5-mile pipeline from Pointe Coupee Parish to LaFource Parish, Louisiana; see project report
• modifications to a compressor station in Opelousas, Louisiana; see project report

Click on the image at right for a map of Enbridge's Venice Extension Project, from Industrial Info's Geolocator tool.

Enbridge's Gator Express Meter Project covers enhancements that would bolster Venture Global's proposed Gator Express Pipeline. The 16-mile, first-phase pipeline will carry up to 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from an interconnection with Kinder Morgan Incorporated's (NYSE:KMI) (Houston, Texas) Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Enbridge's Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline, which is southwest of Louisiana's Plaquemine Parish, to the Plaquemine LNG facility. An 11-mile, second-phase pipeline will carry the same amount along a similar path. Subscribers can read detailed project reports on Venture Global's Phase I and Phase II projects for the Gator Express pipeline.

Click on the image at right for a map of the Gator Express Pipeline project, from Venture Global's website.

Enbridge's news follows Venture Global's final investment decision (FID) on Wednesday to build its Plaquemines LNG facility in Davant, Louisiana, after it secured financing for the initial phase of the project. Venture Global expects it will produce about 10 million metric tons per year of LNG for export. The initial phase will include two LNG storage tanks, each with a 200,000-cubic-meter capacity. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Pipeline Project Database can read more in a detailed project report.

Venture Global already has signed 20-year tolling agreements with PGNiG (Warsaw, Poland), for 2.5 million metric tons per year; Electricite de France S.A. (Paris, France), for 1 million metric tons per year; Petronas (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), for 1 million metric tons per year; Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas), for 1 million metric tons per year; New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ:NFE), for 1 million metric tons per year; CNOOC (Beijing, China), for 2 million metric tons per year; Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England), for 2 million metric tons per year; and Sinopec (Beijing), for 4 million metric tons per year.

The agreements with PGNiG and Electricite de France were in place by early 2020, but have taken on new relevance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine this February, to which many European countries responded by cutting ties to Russia's energy market.

Earlier this month, a vessel originating from Venture Global's new Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal in Cameron, Louisiana, made its debut in Poland. The delivery arrived just as Russian natural gas company Gazprom halted flows through a section of the Yamal gas pipeline that runs through Poland. Subscribers can learn more about the recently completed Calcasieu Pass project in a detailed project report; can click here for a list of active and ongoing projects related to Calcasieu Pass; and find more information in the May 18, 2022, article - Foreign LNG Moving into Russia's Backyard.

Venture Global already is considering a second-phase expansion that would double capacity at the Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal, although no decision would be final until after the first phase is complete. Subscribers can read more in a detailed project report.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) already approved a major pipeline project earlier this year that will bolster Plaquemines LNG's export potential: Kinder Morgan's Evangeline Pass Expansion Project, which will bring an estimated 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, via additions to Kinder Morgan's existing systems. Two of Kinder Morgan's subsidiaries, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company LLC and Southern Natural Gas Company LLC, had been seeking permits for the Evangeline Pass expansion since before the pandemic. Subscribers can click here for a list of projects in the Evangeline Pass expansion, and learn more about Kinder Morgan's work in the April 22, 2002, article - Kinder Morgan Treads Carefully as Hope Revives for Stalled Natural Gas, LNG Projects.

Federal data show total U.S. natural gas exports reached 6.6 trillion cubic feet last year, a 186% improvement over 2016 levels. For LNG, the export of 3.5 trillion cubic feet marked a staggering 1,800% increase over 2016 levels. For more information, see May 25, 2002, article - More U.S. LNG Coming, but Where Will it Go?

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