The Haynesville-to-LNG Pipeline-Palooza

Midstream operators are rushing to complete new pipe and existing-pipe expansions out of the Haynesville Shale to fill some 13 Bcf/d of new LNG trains under construction on the Louisiana and southeast Texas Gulf Coast. This is on top of the nearly 16 Bcf/d of natural gas the U.S. currently exports as LNG.

Williams Cos.’ and others’ forecasts continue to show “the Haynesville is going to have to bring around 10 Bcf a day of growth over the next … eight years,” Alan Armstrong, Williams president and CEO, said in an investor call in February.

The next plant to come online is Exxon Mobil’s long-awaited 2.6 Bcf/d Golden Pass LNG terminal at Port Arthur, Texas. The facility is located at the mouth of the Sabine River at the Louisiana border.

A brownfield project, the new terminal is adjacent to LNG import infrastructure that was built before new U.S. shale-gas supply more than satiated U.S. gas demand beginning in the early 2010s.

Exxon Mobil received permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in February to introduce hazardous fluids into its nitrogen storage and vaporization systems, the step that precedes putting liquid nitrogen into the cryogenic nitrogenic generation package, Zack Van Everen, an analyst for TPH & Co., reported.

“This step typically follows the completion of construction and pre-commissioning checks—for example, pressure tests and leak checks—to ensure the system is ready to handle such fluids safely,” he wrote.

The news was a “positive sign that Train 1 is moving in the right direction to start commissioning in 2025 to hit the current target of late 2025,” he added.

Darren Woods, Exxon Mobil chairman and CEO, said in a Jan. 31 investor call, “with Golden Pass, probably the back end of 2025, [you can] expect to see first LNG and [it] mechanically complete kind of around mid-year.”

Unpausing ‘the pause’

Construction of new U.S. LNG export projects continued under President Joe Biden as his “LNG pause” in January 2024 only applied to issuing new permits, not projects that already had a permit suspension.

Woods said after President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, “The prior administration’s moratorium on new LNG export facilities and its executive order limiting offshore drilling were policy mistakes that the new administration is right to reverse.”

Lifting the pause was among 26 executive orders Trump signed on Inauguration Day, including one that alone revoked more than 60 executive orders Biden had issued.

David Slater, DT Midstream president and CEO, told investors in February, “We have seen a pendulum shift in public and political sentiment around the importance of natural gas being a foundational fuel to drive the American economy and to support our allies around the world.”

It bodes well for the U.S. gas buildout.

“This could be a fundamental turning point, ushering in a new era of investment in natural gas infrastructure as the nation more clearly appreciates its role in delivering an affordable, reliable, domestic clean fuel to serve growing power generation and industrial onshoring demand,” Slater said.

Port Arthur LNG, +3.4 Bcf/d

A stroll north of Golden Pass LNG along Highway 87 in Port Arthur is a greenfield LNG plant Sempra Infrastructure has underway that is expected to bring first LNG online in 2027.

“Construction at Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 remains on time and on budget,” Sempra emphasized in a February report to investors.

A second train is expected to be online in 2028.

“We have 3,600 workers onsite, building out the steel framework for the trains, tank construction, above-ground and underground piping, marine berth dredging …,” Justin Bird, Sempra Infrastructure CEO, told investors in February.

Buyers of the plant’s 1.7 Bcf/d are ConocoPhillips (0.66 Bcf/d) Germany’s RWE (0.3 Bcf/d) and the balance by the U.K.’s Ineos, Poland’s Orlen and France’s Engie.

A two-train plant expansion—technically a brownfield project—will add another 1.71 Bcf/d of capacity. Saudi Aramco has signed a heads of agreement for 0.66 Bcf/d and 25% interest.

“We have interest of well over [0.66 Bcf/d] for the rest of the capacity for Phase 2,” Bird said.

Sempra expects to make a final investment decision (FID) later this year on adding the third and fourth train.

Cameron expansion, +0.92 Bcf/D

Meanwhile, Sempra plans two expansions at its existing 1.58 Bcf/d Cameron LNG facility south of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The first will debottleneck the existing trains, adding 0.13 Bcf/d of capacity. Sempra then plans to install another train, adding 0.79 Bcf/d of capacity.

The plant, which came online in 2019, has loaded 895 tankers—193 in 2024 alone—according to Sempra.

Separately, Sempra has a 2.1 Bcf/d pipeline, Louisiana Connector, underway that will come online upon completion of Port Arthur Phase 1.

And it is expanding a gas-storage facility in Hackberry, Louisiana, south of Lake Charles, that will have 25.5 Bcf of storage capacity. That will also come online before the Port Arthur startup about 40 miles west.

Including its Pacific Coast LNG project, Energía Costa Azul, underway in Mexico, Sempra’s export capacity will grow to some 11.8 Bcf/d.

“LNG demand has grown 6% per annum over the last 25 years and, going forward, we estimate that global demand could grow by up to another [46 Bcf/d] through 2050,” Bird said.

Louisiana LNG, +2.2 Bcf/d

Next to reach FID is expected to be Woodside Energy’s initial three-train, 2.2 Bcf/d Louisiana LNG plant, formerly known as Driftwood, that is some 30 miles south of Gillis, Louisiana, and a jog north of Sempra’s Cameron plant.

The Australia-based company had expected to reach FID by March 31 but, as that date neared, indicated that the decision would be delayed into the second quarter.

It purchased the property, the export permit for up to 3.6 Bcf/d and other assets from Tellurian in October for $1.2 billion, including debt.

Among its plans is to sell some of its equity interest in the plant.

Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill told investors in January the offering has met with “strong interest from high-quality potential partners.”

“It is encouraging to see the growing level of support for LNG opportunities in the U.S. from capital markets,” she said.

Also leaning in on Gulf Coast gas supply, Woodside bought a 0.14 Bcf/d ammonia plant in Beaumont, Texas, just north of Port Arthur, in September.

O’Neill said a first train is expected to be completed there later this year.

Plaquemines LNG, +3.8 Bcf/d

Meanwhile, Venture Global (VG) brought its second plug-and-play LNG export plant online in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans in late December.

The plant was producing nearly 2 Bcf/d in early March and is permitted to 3.8 Bcf/d.

Baker Hughes builds the plug-and-play trains at a port in Italy.

VG’s “design one, build many” modular approach has disrupted the industry, Jeremy Tonet, a securities analyst for J.P. Morgan Securities, wrote in February when initiating coverage of newly public VG’s stock.

Each two-train block arrives by water and slid into slots at the plant site.

VG’s Plaquemines Parish plant consists of 36 trains, each with capacity of 80 MMcf/d, in 18 blocks, for a total of 3.0 Bcf/d.

For feed gas, VG built the Gator Express pipeline that sources gas from the Haynesville and Appalachia from Columbia Gulf, Texas Eastern and Tennessee Gas systems.

VG’s 1.6 Bcf/d Calcasieu Pass LNG plant at the mouth of the Calcasieu River south of Lake Charles was put online in 29 months from FID to first load in a world-record sprint, using the plug-and-play model, according to Tonet.

“Numerous LNG developers have faced significant delays and cost overruns—except Cheniere [Energy]—whereas, VG has delivered industry-leading speed to market and low cost,” Tonet wrote.

Baker Hughes was hired by Woodside in January to place its plug-and-play trains at the Louisiana LNG plant.

CP2, CP3, Delta, +16 Bcf/d

In addition to bringing Plaquemines to peak production, VG is expecting to FID a second Calcasieu Pass plant, CP2, with 3.7 Bcf/d of peak capacity, expandable to 6 Bcf/d.

A third plant at Calcasieu Pass, CP3, would have capacity of up to 5.5 Bcf/d that may FID in 2027 and come online beginning in 2031.

Another potential VG development is its Delta project south of New Orleans for 4.5 Bcf/d. FID is targeted for 2029 and first LNG in 2033.

DT Midstream’s LEAP 4

Among midstream operators showing up with the pipe is DT Midstream, which has its 0.2 Bcf/d LEAP (Louisiana Energy Access Pipeline) Phase 4 expansion underway and expected to be in service in first-half 2026, totaling 2.1 Bcf/d out of Carthage, Texas, and terminating at Gillis.

Buyers are two new LEAP customers in “new long-term, demand-based contracts,” DT Midstream reported.

Additional expansions will bring LEAP to 3.6 Bcf/d and are in pre-FID discussion.

These may come online in 2028 through 2030, the pipeline operator reported in February.

DT Midstream’s Slater said, “We expect that LNG demand that can be served by our Haynesville system will grow [to another] 12 Bcf/d within the next decade and basin supply will increase by a similar level.”

$4.78 Strip

Gas that Haynesville operators put into LEAP declined to 1.4 Bcf/d in the fourth quarter as producers were postponing putting some new wells into sales while gas futures were below $3.

Producers’ overall Haynesville output fell from 15 Bcf/d in the summer of 2023 to 12 Bcf/d this past January, according to Energy Information Administration data.

That’s changed so far this year, though, as the 12-month strip was averaging $4 into February and jumped to as much as $4.78 on March 4.

Jeff Jewell, DT Midstream CFO, said, “In 2025, volumes appear to be responding positively to the improved natural gas price environment.”

But before opening all of the chokes in response to the new strip, producers want palpable demand, Slater said.

“They want to see it, feel it and experience it before they start to deploy capital to growing some of their production,” Slater said. “… We’re in a little bit of a wait-and-see mode.

“… We’re just being patient. We see growth. We have growth in our plan and we’ll see how that evolves as the year unfolds.”

Momentum’s NG3

Also taking gas out of the Haynesville and into the Gulf Coast LNG market will be privately held Momentum Midstream’s NG3 gas-gathering project with 1.7 Bcf/d of capacity, expandable to 2.2 Bcf/d.

The project was to be completed in 2024 but is now expected to come online by the end of this year after federal courts and FERC ruled against an Energy Transfer claim that no pipe could cross its 189-mile Tiger line, which would have cut off the northern half of the Haynesville’s gas from reaching markets south.

NG3’s anchor commitment is from Expand Energy, which produces 3 Bcf/d of the Haynesville’s 12 Bcf/d and has an option to own 35% of interest in the pipe.

Nick Dell’Osso, Expand’s president and CEO, told investors Feb. 27, “Once the NG3 pipe is online, approximately 75% of our marketed volumes are expected to reach strategic markets, including 2.5 Bcf/d directly to the growing LNG corridor.”

That 2.5 Bcf/d will go to Gillis.

Meanwhile, Expand moves some of its Haynesville gas as well as its Appalachian gas to the Perryville, Louisiana, hub that connects to pipe flowing south into the Mississippi River industrial complex, including VG’s Plaquemines LNG plant.

Expand also has an agreement to supply gas to commodities trader Vitol-backed Delfin Midstream’s floating LNG project that is planned for up to 1.84 Bcf/d offshore the Louisiana coast south of Lake Charles and expandable to upto 22 Bcf/d.

“And we think there’s more that we can do around LNG in the future,” Dell’Osso said.

Williams’ LEG

Williams’ 1.8 Bcf/d Louisiana Energy Gateway (LEG) pipeline was also delayed by the Energy Transfer litigation.

Williams’ Armstrong said in a November investor call of the number of Haynesville-to-LNG projects underway, “I’m not too terribly surprised, if you look at the balance of where gas is going to have to come from and particularly gas that can meet the LNG specs and low-nitrogen specs that are going to be required.”

With the demand growth Williams and others are seeing, “that’s going to have to come from somewhere,” Armstrong said.

“And it’s starting to mount up pretty big. So, I’m not too terribly surprised by that, frankly.”

Chad Zamarin, Williams executive vice president, corporate strategic development, added, “Even third-party models are showing over 10 Bcf/d of growth out of the Haynesville by the early 2030s to meet LNG demand.

“That’s a lot of gas that’s going to need to find its way to those LNG markets.”

WhiteWater’s Pelican

Austin, Texas-based WhiteWater Midstream announced FID in October of its 1.75 Bcf/d, 170-mile, 36-inch Pelican pipeline project that will source gas from Williams, Louisiana, in the Haynesville’s Red River Parish, delivering it to Gillis.

Supply commitments are from multiple Haynesville producers, WhiteWater reported. In-service is expected in first-half 2027.

The anchor buyer wasn’t disclosed. Partners with WhiteWater in the project include Stonepeak, which is the lead investor in Venture Global.