Whistler Pipeline, Cheniere plot gas pipeline in Texas to Corpus Christi LNG terminal

Cheniere's Corpus Christi Liquefaction LNG terminal would receive a new source of feedgas from Texas' Permian Basin as soon as 2024, midstream developer WhiteWater Midstream said Sept. 19 in announcing plans for a new natural gas pipeline.

Cheniere has partnered in a joint venture with the WhiteWater-backed Whistler Pipeline to build the ADCC Pipeline, a 42-inch, intrastate pipeline that will run 43 miles between the terminus of the Whistler Pipeline in Agua Dulce, Texas, to Corpus Christi LNG terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast, the companies said Sept. 19.

The ADCC line will offer initial maximum capacity of 1.7 Bcf/d in gas supply but can be expanded to deliver up to 2.5 Bcf/d.

Midstream growth

The ADCC project comes as midstream operators across Texas undertake a slew of new pipeline infrastructure projects to support booming demand for LNG exports from the Gulf Coast.

Whistler Pipeline, which is backed by MPLX, Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners and West Texas Gas in addition to WhiteWater, in May signed final investment decision on a 500 MMcf/d expansion that will bring its total capacity to 2.5 Bcf/d by late 2023. Whistler was first placed into service in 2021 and originates near the Waha pricing hub in the Permian Basin.

In addition to the Whistler expansion, midstream infrastructure projects are expected to add around 4.1 Bcf/d in takeaway capacity from the Permian Basin by 2024, with much of that gas bound for demand centers in the Gulf Coast and beyond. WhiteWater's greenfield Matterhorn Express Pipeline is slated to add around 2.5 Bcf/d in takeaway capacity when it enters service in the third quarter of 2024, while Kinder Morgan expects to wrap expansions on its Gulf Coast Express Pipeline and Permian Highway Pipeline assets by the end of next year.

LNG factor

Demand for feedgas at US LNG terminals has recently cooled from a pre-summer frenzy, due in part to a lingering outage at the 15 million mt/year Freeport LNG export terminal. But LNG feedgas demand at US terminals has still averaged a record-high 11.8 Bcf/d thus far in 2022, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights, and is likely to expand even further in coming years as companies add liquefaction capacity along the Gulf Coast.

Cheniere's Corpus Christi facility will contribute to that expanding demand. The company in June authorized a final investment decision on a 10 million mt/yr expansion at Corpus Christi that will bring total liquefaction capacity at the facility to 25 million mt/yr by 2025.

Corpus Christi currently receives gas from Cheniere's 2.75 Bcf/d, 21-mile Corpus Christi Pipeline, which connects with a few major pipelines traversing south Texas, including Kinder Morgan's Tennessee Gas Pipeline. Cheniere is also at work on the Stage 3 Pipeline, a bi-directional pipeline running parallel to the Corpus Christi Pipeline, ahead of the 2025 Corpus Christi expansion.

But Cheniere has signaled that even more liquefaction capacity could be on the way at the Corpus Christi facility, likely necessitating its investment in ADCC. Last month, the company entered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's pre-filing process for the so-called Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project at Corpus Christi, saying in a filing that feedgas for two new 1.64 million mt/year trains would arrive via the Corpus Christi Pipeline and "a non-jurisdictional intrastate pipeline."

Ahead of that filing, Cheniere in June committed $93 million for a 30% stake in the ADCC pipeline project, according to its second quarter earnings report published last month.

Cheniere plans to file a formal application with FERC in February 2023 for plans to execute the latest proposed expansion at Corpus Christi, with a targeted in-service date in 2031.