The war-related loss of LNG export capacity in Qatar — the #2 supplier after the U.S. — suggests that LNG export terminals along the U.S. Gulf Coast will be running flat-out over the next few years, and that still more U.S. projects may move to a final investment decision (FID). That bodes well for the many natural gas storage facilities already in place near the massive concentration of LNG export capacity along the Texas/Louisiana border (and further east in the Bayou State) and for the storage proposals on the drawing board. In today’s RBN blog, we finish our review of existing and planned storage capacity in this epicenter of energy infrastructure development with a look at three big projects being planned.
This is the fourth episode in our series on gas storage assets in the broad, north-to-south corridor straddling the state line between Texas and Louisiana. In Part 1, we said the three existing LNG export terminals in the Sabine-Neches/Calcasieu area demand up to 7 Bcf/d of natural gas and that four new terminals under construction there will add another 10 Bcf/d of demand over the next five years. The gas needs of these facilities and other large energy consumers in the region (such as power plants and petrochemical complexes) can vary widely, and sometimes suddenly — a perfect setup for the development of gas storage facilities that can quickly inject or withdraw large quantities of gas.
Golden Triangle Storage, LLC is holding a non-binding open season for working gas capacity in its existing caverns, providing unparalleled access to gas supply from the Permian, Eagle Ford, and Haynesville basins, as well as LNG and industrial demand markets.
In our first blog, we looked at Caliche Storage’s Golden Triangle Storage and Spindletop Expansion Project; Trinity Gas Storage’s Bethel, TX, facility; and Energy Transfer’s Bethel Gas Storage and Bammel facilities. Then, in Part 2, we discussed NeuVentus’s Texas Reliability Underground Hub in Liberty County, TX; the Black Bayou Energy Hub in Cameron Parish, LA; Gulf Coast Midstream Partners’ Freeport Energy Storage Hub (FRESH); two Energy Transfer facilities: Moss Bluff in Liberty County; Egan in Acadia Parish, LA; and Enbridge’s Tres Palacios in Matagorda County, TX. Part 3 reviewed Williams Cos.’ Pine Prairie facility in Evangeline Parish, LA, and its Arcadia facility in Bienville Parish, LA; Kinder Morgan’s collection of storage sites on both sides of the state line; ONEOK’s Jefferson Island and Napoleonville facilities in southern Louisiana; and Enstor’s Katy Storage & Transportation facility near the important gas hub in Katy, TX.
Today, we’ll start with Sempra Infrastructure’s LA Storage Hackberry project (magenta tank icon in Figure 1 below), a salt-cavern facility in Cameron Parish, LA, whose first two phases will have a total of six caverns with a combined working gas capacity of about 35 Bcf. The company, which holds a majority ownership interest in the Cameron LNG export facility and is constructing the Port Arthur LNG export facility (orange and purple diamonds, respectively), reached FID on the gas storage project’s three-cavern, 16.5-Bcf first phase in September 2023. That phase is currently under construction and slated to come online in Q2 2027; it will have a maximum injection capacity of 1.5 Bcf/d and a maximum withdrawal capacity of 1.5 Bcf/d.
