Williams Partners LP, Tulsa, reported it had executed long-term contracts with two shippers for Gulf Connector, a 475,000-dekatherm/day expansion of the Transco pipeline system to connect US natural gas supplies with global LNG markets.
Gulf Connector will deliver gas for Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Corpus Christi, Tex., liquefaction project and a shipper in Freeport LNG Development LP’s liquefaction project near Freeport, Tex. Both of these facilities are currently under construction.
The Gulf Connector project involves adding compression and making the gas flow bidirectional on a portion of the Transco system between Louisiana and South Texas. It’s designed to provide incremental firm transportation from Transco’s Station 65 in St. Helena Parish, La., to mainline interconnects with proposed header pipelines in Wharton County, Tex., and San Patricio County, Tex.
Williams Partners also is building the Gulf Trace Project to serve Cheniere’s Sabine Pass Liquefaction project in Cameron Parish‑the first large-scale LNG export facility in operation in the continental US (OGJ Online, Apr. 25, 2014). The first shipment of LNG from that facility is expected late February or March and the Gulf Trace Project is expected to be completed in early 2017.
Cheniere’s Corpus Christi export terminal is proposed to have as many as five liquefaction trains‑two of which are under construction‑with expected aggregate nominal production capacity of up to 22.5 million tonnes/year of LNG. Train 1 and 2 are expected to become operational in late 2018 and mid-2019, respectively.
The Freeport LNG export terminal will have three liquefaction trains with expected aggregate export capacity of 15.3 million typ. The Freeport export facility is also planned to commence operations in phases between September 2018 and August 2019.
Transco is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams Partners.
