February 2, 2017 [OPIS] - Williams Partners said on Wednesday that it has successfully placed into service its Gulf Trace project, a 1.2 million-dekatherm per-day expansion of the Transco pipeline system to serve the Cheniere Energy Partners' Sabine Pass liquefaction export terminal in Cameron Parish, La.
The Sabine Pass liquefaction terminal is the first large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in operation in the United States, Williams said.
OPIS notes that the growing LNG export market in the U.S. is expected to support a firm domestic natural gas price outlook in the future. The U.S. is also rapidly expanding its natural gas pipeline network to improve supply
efficiency in certain high-demand markets. The compressed natural gas retail market for truck fleets has been expanding but slowly as the U.S. CNG infrastructure continues to growing.
Williams said that the Gulf Trace project allows Transco’s production area mainline and southwest Louisiana lateral systems to flow gas bidirectionally from Station 65 in St. Helena Parish, La. to Cameron Parish, La. Cheniere has subscribed to all the firm capacity for the project.
“Projects like Gulf Trace, which leverage existing gas pipeline infrastructure, make it possible to connect abundant domestic supply with emerging international markets,” said Rory Miller, senior vice president of Williams Partners’ Atlantic-Gulf operating area.
Natural gas demand to serve LNG export facilities along the Transco pipeline is expected to grow by approximately 11,000 MDth/d by 2025, Williams said. In September the company filed an application seeking regulatory approval for its Gulf Connector Expansion Project, designed to deliver 475,000 dekatherms per day to feed two liquefied natural gas export terminals in Texas — one located on the northern coast of Corpus Christi Bay in 2019, and another located on the coast of Freeport Bay in the second half of 2018.
Gulf Trace is part of approximately $1.6 billion in transmission growth projects Williams Partners plans to bring into service on its Transco pipeline system in 2017 that will help increase the pipeline’s capacity by approximately 3.0 million dekatherms per day. The Garden State, Dalton, Hillabee (Phase 1), Virginia Southside II and New York Bay Expansion projects are all under construction and/or expected to be placed in-service this year.
Transco is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams Partners, of which Williams owns controlling interests. Transco is the nation’s largest interstate natural gas transmission pipeline system, according to Williams. It delivers natural gas to customers through its 10,200-mile pipeline network whose mainline extends nearly 1,800 miles between South Texas and New York City.
