Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) companies Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline, Kinder Morgan Tejas Pipeline, and Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. (TGP) have entered into 15-year firm transportation agreements and a multiyear storage agreement with Cheniere Energy Inc. subsidiary Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC to provide 550 MMcfd of firm natural gas transportation service and 3 bcfd of natural gas storage capacity to serve the LNG export Cheniere is developing near Corpus Christi.
The Corpus Christi plant is designed and permitted for up to three LNG production trains, with aggregate design capacity of 2.1 bcfd. Natural gas transportation service can increase to 800 MMcfd upon completion of certain conditions in the Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline agreement.
KMI will expand its existing Texas intrastate pipeline system in South Texas to provide 250 MMcfd of the firm transportation and 100% of the storage, and expand its TGP Pipeline to provide 300 MMcfd of firm transportation from various Zone 1 receipt points near its Station 87 Pool in Portland, Tenn.
Kinder Morgan will coordinate construction necessary to support these services with startup of the LNG export plant, expected in 2018-19. KMI expects the combined expansions to cost roughly $187 million. KMI also services a portion of Cheniere’s Sabine Pass liquefaction plant in Louisiana.
The agreements are subject to, among other things, Corpus Christi Liquefaction making a final investment decision to build the plant. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this year issued a final environmental impact statement for the Corpus Christi LNG project (OGJ Online, Oct. 8, 2014).