FERC approves Kinder Morgan NGPL expansion, new Rover Pipeline delivery point
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL) subsidiary permission Nov. 21 to build the Texas-Louisiana Project in Texas.
The project is designed to provide 467,000 dekatherms/day (Dth/d) of firm transportation service, through a combination of reserved existing unsubscribed capacity on various transportation paths on NGPL’s pipeline system and 300,000 Dth/d of new eastbound firm transportation service on Natural’s Louisiana Line to meet growing demand in the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast region.
The Louisiana line consists of two 30-in. OD pipelines that extend southeast from existing Compressor Station 302 in Montgomery County to existing Compressor Station 343 in Liberty County and terminate at the end of NGPL’s system in Vermilion Parish, La.
The $72-million project involves construction of a new 18,340-hp compressor unit, uprating hp at two existing compressor station units by 1,600-hp each, and re-wheeling four existing compressor station units.
The upgrades would boost firm capacity for growing energy needs in the area served by Segment 25 of NGPL’s existing Louisiana Line.
NGPL said the project will allow it to receive additional gas from existing system receipt points and the growing Haynesville and Permian basin and Eagle Ford supply areas to serve growing LNG markets. NGPL aims to have the expansion in service July 1, 2026.
Rover Pipeline
FERC also authorized Rover Pipeline LLC to build a new delivery point interconnection (Rover-Bulger Delivery Meter Station) at its existing Bulger Compressor Station at milepost 0.0 of Rover's Burgettstown Lateral in Washington County, Pa.
The $4.1-million project would allow up to 400,000 Dth/d in delivery capacity to ETC Northeast Pipeline LLC's cryogenic processing plant for processing and re-injection of processed natural gas into Rover's pipeline via the existing Rover-Revolution Receipt Meter Station.
FERC issued an Environmental Assessment on June 6, 2024, concluding that approval of the proposed delivery point interconnection would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.
The commission also approved Sempra Infrastructure’s LA Storage’s application Nov. 21 to begin construction of its Hackberry gas storage project in Cameron Parish, La.
The project, which received a FERC certificate in September 2022, consists of four storage caverns capable of providing about 25.5 bcf of natural gas storage capacity. The project will connect with the Cameron Interstate Pipeline via a 5-mile pipeline and the Port Arthur Pipeline Louisiana Connector via an 11-mile pipeline.
In a press briefing, FERC Chairman Willie Phillips acknowledged his last meeting will likely be in January, when the incoming Trump administration likely names a Republican to head the independent agency.
Phillips also said FERC will continue to monitor the legal landscape related to natural gas pipeline and LNG projects.
FERC project certificates
In recent months, federal courts have scuttled three FERC project certificates.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court tossed out Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co.’s nearly $1 billion Regional Energy Access expansion project (OGJ Online, Sept. 19, 2024).
The same court sent back the commission’s approval of Commonwealth LNG LLC’s proposed plant in Cameron Parish, La., ordering the commission to reevaluate its approval (OGJ Online, July 17, 2024).
That court also ordered FERC to redo the environmental analyses underlying both NextDecade Corp.'s Rio Grande LNG and Glenfarne Energy Transition LLC’s Texas LNG plants in Texas (OGJ Online, Aug. 7, 2024).
Phillips, during the press conference, vowed to address the court mandates as efficiently as possible, calling FERC’s orders permitting the projects “legally durable orders that we stand by.”
Cathy Landry | Washington Correspondent
Cathy Landry has worked over 20 years as a journalist, including 17 years as an energy reporter with Platts News Service (now S&P Global) in Washington and London.
She has served as a wire-service reporter, general news and sports reporter for local newspapers and a feature writer for association and company publications.
Cathy has deep public policy experience, having worked 15 years in Washington energy circles.
She earned a master’s degree in government from The Johns Hopkins University and studied newspaper journalism and psychology at Syracuse University.
