I’m not sure if you know it or not, but BIG things are happening in the world of natural gas!
The price of natural gas is still pretty low but that is not slowing down the growth of liquefied natural gas or LNG terminals on the Gulf Coast. Last year I wrote about the massive LNG terminal to be located in Corpus Christi, TX. that is still in its beginning stages. So this year I am going to brag on the LNG plant located at Sabine Pass.
Let me give you a quick lesson on the Sabine Pass. It is located off the Sabine River where it feeds into the Gulf of Mexico, directly between the states of Texas and Louisiana. The map below is showing the pass as it was used during the American Civil War. Two major battles happened at Sabine Pass during the Civil War.
The major city in the State of Texas that is on the pass is Port Arthur. Please note, the actual location of the LNG terminal is in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
Moving on.
Let’s get back to the natural gas part of this blog.
The LNG terminal on Sabine Pass is owned by a company called Cheniere Energy Partners. They handle the terminal in Corpus and some major pipeline here in the south. Below are exerts from Cheniere’s website about their pipelines.
The Creole Trail Pipeline isa 94-mile pipeline interconnecting the Sabine Pass LNG terminal with a number of large interstate pipelines. The Creole Trail Pipeline was placed into service in April 2008. The Creole Trail Pipeline runs easterly approximately 16 miles from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal to Johnson Bayou and then runs in a generally northeasterly direction for an additional 78 miles. The pipeline interconnects with several interstate and intrastate pipelines. The pipeline is designed to transport 2.0 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. In December 2013, CTPL began construction of certain modifications to reverse the flow of natural gas, allowing the Creole Trail Pipeline to be able to transport natural gas to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal. The modifications are expected to be in service in January of 2015.
The Corpus Christi Pipeline filed an application with the FERC in August 2012 for the authorization to site, construct and operate 23 miles of 48” pipeline that would interconnect the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project with several inter- and intrastate natural gas pipelines. The pipeline is designed to transport 2.25 Bcf/d of feed and fuel gas required by the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project from the existing natural gas pipeline grid. Cheniere has received FERC approval to the site, construct and operate the pipeline.
The LNG plant sounds quite impressive. It covers more than 1,000 acres of land, had 2 of its own docks that can see shipping vessels able to carry 266,000 cubic meters. It can accept natural gas from pipelines that run the entire country. So everyday about 700 million cubic feet of natural gas from Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Dakota will end up in the swamps of Louisiana. This 20 Billion dollar project will produce up to 4.5 million tons of Liquefied natural gas each year.
I honestly can not wrap my head around all that. An article from Bloomberg Business written by Matthew Phillips, did an amazing job of explaining the functionality of the plant in layman’s terms. The picture below was taken in the very early stages of construction. This little snippet of the plant is quite awe-inspiring.
It may not be new information that this plant is being built, but it inspired this blog.
On Wednesday, February 24th around 7:30am, Cheniere Energy was the first company here in the lower 48 states to export liquefied natural gas. A tanker carrying 160,000 cubic meters of LNG left the Gulf of Mexico and headed to All Saint’s Bay, Bahia. The Brazilian O&G company Petrobras was the purchasing company.
You know what is even better? There will be 10 more cargoes to go out within the next 2 months. Keep it up Cheniere Energy!
Check out the video below of the first LNG maiden voyage!
Hopefully, this gas being shipped out of the US will help lift current prices. In the meantime, Croft Production Systems can help with processing and production equipment to economically produce your wells. We may not have a 1,000-acre plant but our manufacturing facility has dehydrators, amine plants, coolers, and much more ready to go. Or we can customize our units to your company’s unique natural gas processing needs.
