Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) Texas-Louisiana Expansion project, aimed at bringing additional natural gas supply to the Gulf Coast, is now fully subscribed after two LNG exporters signed on as customers.
Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (NGPL), a KMI subsidiary, told FERC in a recent filing it has inked agreements to supply the Golden Pass and Delfin liquefied natural gas projects in Texas and Louisiana. The deals would cover the remaining 130 MMcf/d in capacity available on the proposed expansion, according to NGPL.
“Both the Delfin and Golden Pass precedent agreements provide for primary delivery points in Louisiana,” KMI’s Regulatory Director Francisco Tarin wrote in the filing. It is NGPL’s “understanding that the end use of the gas to be transported is to serve existing markets on” NGPL’s system, “as well as existing and potential new LNG markets in Louisiana.”
Prices at NGPL TexOk for April delivery averaged $1.586/MMBtu as of Monday versus $2.017 for the summer, according to NGI’s Forward Fixed Snapshot. Summer 2025 prices were trading nearly $1 higher at an average of $3.013.
Expanding Gulf Coast Supply
Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC secured 50 MMcf/d of capacity, while Delfin Midstream Inc. landed 80 MMcf/d.
NGPL filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the 300 MMcf/d project last October, reporting at that time that it was supported by supply agreements with Devon Gas Services LP and EDF Trading North America LLC.
The estimated $72 million project would expand capacity on the NGPL system by about 300 MMcf/d, allowing increased natural gas deliveries from the Eagle Ford and Haynesville shale formations, as well as the Permian Basin. KMI plans to build and modify equipment at two compressor stations on the NGPL system in Texas that could help send additional gas supply eastward through Louisiana.
KMI said it expected the expansion could be completed by July 2026.
The midstreamer’s large portfolio of systems currently hold contracts to supply about 4 Bcf/d of gas to Mexico and 7 Bcf/d to U.S. LNG terminals. It also recently moved to cement its South Texas position through an acquisition of NextEra Energy Inc.’s South Texas Midstream LLC business for $1.8 billion.
LNG Project Progress
Golden Pass confirmed the agreement in its own request to FERC, asking to be allowed to join in support of NGPL’s authorization request for the project.
The 2.4 Bcf/d capacity Golden Pass LNG project southeast of Houston is expected to become “mechanically complete” by the end of the year, before initiating first exports sometime in 2025, according to ExxonMobil.
Earlier in the month, the firm’s pipeline development unit filed a partial in-service request with FERC to begin introducing in April as much as 60 MMcf/d to a free flow line as it begins testing its compression systems. The free flow line would connect the Golden Pass pipeline with the Gulf Run Transmission LLC and Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co. systems.
Golden Pass also expects to be ready to commission three of its compressor stations by the end of the year.
The Delfin LNG project is still unsanctioned, but has around 5.6 million metric tons/year (mmty) in tentative or binding offtake agreements so far. Delfin has proposed using up to four floating LNG vessels linked together at a deepwater port to create up to 13 mmty in export capacity.
Delfin has reported to regulators that it could give a notice to proceed to its shipbuilder for the first vessel in the coming months, but is currently waiting for a response from the U.S. Department of Energy for an extension of its export authorizations.
In other news for KMI, the firm has requested an extension from FERC for its own Gulf Coast LNG export project. In its request, the company asked the agency to give it until July 2029 to place the proposed Gulf LNG project in service.
KMI received FERC approval for the two train, 10 mmty Mississippi project in July 2019. The company told the agency “that global events, including the Covid-19 pandemic” have delayed its development.
It also cited “complex litigation with its existing import customers over the scope and status of their terminal use agreements, which has hampered” its ability to finalize offtake agreements.
