Kinder Morgan Inc. plans to expand the working gas storage capacity at its Markham storage facility in Matagorda County along the Texas Gulf Coast, the company said in a May 31 news release. Commercial in-service for the project is slated for January 2024

KMI reached an agreement with a Texas Brine Co. LLC subsidiary, Underground Services Markham LLC, to lease an additional cavern at Markham to provide more than 6 Bcf of incremental working gas storage capacity and 650 MMcf/d of incremental withdrawal capacity on KMI’s Texas intrastate pipeline system.

So far, anchor shippers have subscribed to approximately half of the available capacity under long-term agreements, KMI said.

“During Winter Storm Uri, KMI’s storage portfolio was critical to supplying human needs customers in Texas while also providing much needed supply to numerous electric generation facilities during the storm. We are pleased to increase our natural gas storage solutions to further support Texas customers, particularly during severe weather events,” said KMI Natural Gas Midstream President Tom Dender. “Storage capabilities on highly utilized assets are critical to support Texas’ ability to respond to an energy crisis and ensure energy reliability as renewables become a greater portion of the state’s energy mix. This expansion will provide much needed capacity that could supply gas-fired electric generation facilities within ERCOT and provide electric service to well in excess of one million homes in Texas.”

Prior to the expansion, Markham’s 21.8 Bcf of working gas storage capacity has a peak delivery of 1.1 Bcf/d of natural gas with multiple receipt and delivery points on KMI’s nearly 7,000-mile Texas intrastate system.

Interested shippers can obtain more information by contacting Larry Bell, KMI’s chief commercial officer of intrastate pipelines at 713-369-8776 or via email.