48-in. pipeline, HDD crossing to expand Texas gas flows into Louisiana LNG corridor

(UI) — Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline has filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval to build the Texas Access Project, a natural gas pipeline expansion intended to move more Texas supply into the southwest Louisiana LNG corridor, including service to Woodside’s planned LNG terminal.

According to the March 6 application, the project would allow Kinder Morgan to transport up to 1.3 million Dth/d of natural gas from new receipt points in southeast Texas into delivery points on its existing Louisiana system. The company said the project would create a new west-to-east supply path into an increasingly constrained LNG market.

The proposed project includes about 3.05 miles of 48-inch pipeline from Jefferson County, Texas, into Cameron Parish, Louisiana, including a 0.99-mile horizontal directional drill beneath the Sabine-Neches Waterway. It also includes connector segments, pigging facilities, metering modifications and a new interconnect for Woodside’s LNG terminal in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.

Kinder Morgan said the project does not increase the certificated design capacity of its system. Instead, it would extend the paths through which existing capacity can access new Texas gas supplies and deliver them into southwest Louisiana.

The filing identifies Woodside as the anchor shipper behind the project. Kinder Morgan said Woodside executed a binding precedent agreement for 1,000,000 Dth/d of firm transportation service, providing what the company described as strong commercial support for the project.

The transportation package includes 500,000 Dth/d from the proposed TIP receipt point, 350,000 Dth/d from Kinder Morgan’s existing interconnection with NGPL enabled by metering changes, and 150,000 Dth/d of previously unsubscribed capacity reserved for the project. All of it would be delivered to the Woodside interconnect.

Kinder Morgan said it designed the project to help meet growing gas demand from LNG facilities in southwest Louisiana, where pipeline congestion has increased as export capacity expands. The filing points specifically to rising flows tied to Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG terminal as evidence of tightening market conditions in the region.

The company estimated the total project cost at about $112 million and asked FERC to issue a certificate order by Feb. 5, 2027. Kinder Morgan said that timeline would allow construction to begin as early as April 2027, with part of the project entering service by Jan. 1, 2028, and the remainder by April 1, 2028.

If you want, I can also give you 3 stronger alternative headlines for newsletter use, including one that leans harder into the Woodside angle and one that leans harder into the LNG corridor angle.

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