July 15, 2024 [LNG Prime]- The ADCC pipeline has started delivering natural gas to Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG export terminal in Texas.

According to a joint statement issued on Friday, the pipeline entered commercial service on July 1, and is capable of providing about 1.7 Billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas transportation capacity to the Corpus Christi facility from markets on Whistler Pipeline’s Agua Dulce Header in South Texas.

The receipt points in Agua Dulce provide Cheniere direct access to Permian and Eagle Ford volumes in addition to volumes sourced along the Gulf Coast, the statement said.

The ADCC Pipeline further enhances the natural gas infrastructure in Texas and creates an additional demand point for Permian gas.

This infrastructure is expected to help reduce flared volumes in the Permian Basin and further support US LNG exports to global markets, the statement said.

The ADCC pipeline is a joint venture owned 70 percent by Whistler Pipeline, which is a joint venture between WhiteWater (50.6 percent), MPLX (30.4 percent, and Enbridge (19 percent), and 30 percent by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cheniere.

Back in September 2022, US LNG exporting giant Cheniere signed a deal with Whistler Pipeline to expand the latter’s existing pipeline in order to deliver natural gas from the Permian Basin to the Corpus Christi LNG export plant.

The consortium operates the 724 kilometers long pipeline that transports natural gas from the Waha Header in the Permian Basin to Agua Dulce, Texas, while the new pipeline is about 65 kilometers long.

Corpus Christi LNG expansion

Cheniere’s Corpus Christi liquefaction plant now has three operational trains with each having a capacity of about 5 mtpa.

In June 2022, Cheniere took a final investment decision to build the Corpus Christi Stage 3 expansion project worth about $8 billion.

This project includes building seven midscale trains, each with an expected liquefaction capacity of about 1.49 mtpa, and the project was 60.4 percent complete as of May this year, according to the May construction report filed with the US FERC.

Cheniere expects to start producing LNG from the first midscale train this year.

Besides this expansion, Cheniere plans to take a final investment decision in 2025 to build two more midscale trains at its Corpus Christi LNG plant.

The CCL midscale trains 8 and 9 project would include two trains, nearly identical in design to trains 1-7 and each capable of producing up to 1.64 mtpa of LNG, on-site refrigerant storage, a 220,000-cbm LNG storage tank, a BOG compressor, and an increase in the authorized LNG loading rate.

According to a Cheniere presentation published on June 17, the project could have a capacity of about 5 mtpa when debottlenecking potential is included.

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