New York — Driftwood Pipeline announced March 29 the start of a binding open season for its proposed Line 200 and Line 300 expansion project intended to serve growing natural gas demand along the US Gulf Coast.
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Register NowThe project would significantly expand shippers' market access to industrial, petrochemical, power generation and LNG export demand along the Gulf Coast with interconnections to 12 existing interstate and intrastate pipelines.
The project's phase 1 development would originate at a proposed interconnect with Texas Eastern Transmission near Ragley, Louisiana, moving gas 37 miles southwest to a termination point at Carlyss, Louisiana. The 42-inch diameter pipeline would transport up to 2.4 Bcf/d with service expected to begin by September 2024.
PODCAST: Tellurian's CEO on the proposed Driftwood project, energy transition and the future of LNG
The project's phase 2 development would offer additional compression, boosting capacity to a maximum 3.2 Bcf/d by its expected completion in June 2026. The final development phase would include construction of an additional 31 miles of 42-inch diameter looped pipeline, expanding the project's maximum capacity to a total of 4.6 Bcf/d with a targeted in-service date of December 2026.
The Driftwood Pipeline itself remains a proposed project that would ship gas 96 miles southwest from Evangeline Parish, Louisiana to the Driftwood LNG terminal. While neither project has been sanctioned by developer, Tellurian, both projects did receive a green light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in April 2019.
Haynesville
Tellurian's proposed Louisiana pipeline promises to improve market access from multiple producing basins across the US but could offer the biggest advantage to producers in the nearby Haynesville shale.
Along with the developer's 2 Bcf/d Haynesville Global Access Pipeline, Tellurian's proposed midstream projects in Louisiana would give Haynesville producers access to additional interstate and intrastate pipelines capable of reaching end-users across the Gulf Coast.
As output from the Louisiana/Texas shale continues rebounding from last year's drilling slowdown, upcoming midstream expansions are now looking critical to the basin's future growth.
Month to date, gas production from the Haynesville has averaged its highest on record at over 12.7 Bcf/d. With Enverus data showing an estimated 47 rigs currently in operation, the Haynesville is now the only US basin where drilling activity has exceeded its pre-pandemic level. According to recent forecasts from S&P Global Platts Analytics, this year's acceleration in upstream activity there could see output grow by an incremental 15% or more by late 2021.
Tellurian
Tellurian's Driftwood pipeline and related expansions comprise just one component of the developer's ambitious suite of proposed projects – stretching from wellhead to export terminal.
In 2017, subsidiary Tellurian Production agreed to purchase producing assets and undeveloped acreage in Northern Louisiana from Rockcliff Energy. In 2019, the company completed a successful three-well drilling program, growing output from its acreage to 50 MMcf/d from just 4 MMcf/d.
In December 2020, Tellurian asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to halt an early review of another of its proposed projects – $3.7 billion, 2 Bcf/d Permian Global Access Pipeline – originally intended to deliver Permian gas supply to the company's Driftwood export terminal. The decision was part of Tellurian's effort at the time to streamline its development plans and cut costs as it weathered financial pressure.
In a March 25 interview with S&P Global Platts, Tellurian CEO Octavio Simoes said the company's now scaled-down development strategy will make its Haynesville/Bossier holding a key component of its overall project with a plan to produce all of the Driftwood LNG terminal's export supply from its Louisiana acreage.