The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its Natural Gas Pipeline Project Tracker said that about 5 Bcfd of new pipeline capacity entered service in the US during the first half of 2020. Several of these pipeline projects are important to strengthen natural gas exports to the North American market, EIA said. The new pipelines that entered service in January to early July are as follows:
Tallgrass Energy’s Cheyenne Connector Pipeline and Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Project. Both projects have a combined capacity of 1.6 Bcfd and began service in late June 2020. The 70-mile, 36-inch Cheyenne Connector pipeline can bring 0.6 Bcfd of natural gas from eastern Colorado into the Cheyenne hub near the border of Colorado and Wyoming. Meanwhile, the Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Project allows natural gas production in the Rockies to reach more markets by improving the interconnectivity between the Rockies Express Pipeline and other interstate transmission networks.
Cheniere’s MIDSHIP is a 233-mile, 36-inch greenfield pipeline which connects natural gas production in the SCOOP-STACK Basin to the Bennington hub at the border between Oklahoma and Texas. The pipeline has a capacity of 1.1 Bcfd and entered service in April 2020. It will allow natural gas supplies from the basin to meet growing demand in the southeastern US where Cheniere also operates LNG facilities.
Three projects in the Waha hub add the system’s capacity by 1 Bcfd. These projects include the 14-mile, 0.32-Bcfd Northern Delaware Basin Expansion which entered service in February 2020 as part of the El Paso Natural Gas Transmission System (EPNG); the 23-mile, 0.40-Bcfd Sendero Carlsbad Gateway Project which entered service in May 2020 to link the Waha hub with natural gas processing plants in southeastern New Mexico; and the 0.32 Bcfd South Mainline Expansion Project which entered service in early July 2020 to connect the Waha hub with Arizona and Southern California.
EIA also noted that 8.7 Bcfd of capacity expansions were cancelled in 2020. The cancelled projects include the 1.5 Bcfd Atlantic Coast Pipeline connecting the Marcellus and Utica fields to the Southeast and the 0.65 Bcfd Constitution Pipeline linking northeastern natural gas production to New England.
