Kinder Morgan delays Elba Island LNG pipeline

OREANDA-NEWS. April 15, 2016. Kinder Morganhas delayed the startup of additional bidirectional pipeline capacity that would serve the Elba Island LNG export project in Georgia by more than a year until August 2017.

Midstream company Kinder Morgan plans to add 1.05 Bcf/d (30mn m?/d) of north-to-south capacity in three phases on the 189-mile (304km) Elba Express pipeline, which extends from the Elba Island terminal near Savanna, Georgia, to the Transcontinental pipeline, along, the Georgia-South Carolina border. Elba Express also connects with Southern Natural Gas in Georgia. Kinder Morgan owns Elba Express and the Elba Island terminal.

Phase 1, which would add 686.6mn cf/d of north-to-south capacity, likely will be completed by August 2017, more than a year later than earlier projections of June 2016, Kinder Morgan said in a recent filing to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Elba Island was previously expected to start exporting LNG in 2017, but is now scheduled to come on line in early 2018. All the dates could be delayed further depending on how quickly FERC approves the pipeline project and the export terminal, Kinder Morgan added. The company expects construction approvals early in the second quarter.

Phase 2, which would add 138.1mn cf/d of southward capacity, is scheduled to be completed by November 2017, a few months later than the earlier forecast of June 2017. Phase 3, which would add 229.4mn cf/d of southward capacity, is scheduled to be finished by June 2019, two months later than the earlier schedule of April 2019.

Elba Express was placed in service in March 2010 to send regasified LNG from the Elba Island LNG import facility north to the regional grid. Booming US shale gas production led Kinder Morgan to propose the \\$343mn expansion, comprising compression and associated facilities, to increase southward capacity.

Shell and BG have contracted for about 70pc of the planned additional southward capacity. Shell has signed a binding 20-year deal for all the proposed liquefaction capacity at Elba Island.

Shell, an import customer at Elba Island, subscribed to all the 945mn cf/d of original northward capacity on Elba Express for 30 years. Shell's overall volume will not change after it acquires the north-to-south capacity it needs, as it will turn back an equivalent amount of south-to-north capacity.

BG, also an import customer at Elba Island, subscribed until 2038 for all the 220mn cf/d of southward capacity on Elba Express placed in service in April 2013 to serve regional customers. It plans to acquire up to up to 233mn cf/d of additional north-to-south capacity for 12 years beginning in mid-2019, also to serve regional customers.

The \\$2bn Elba Island export terminal will have baseload capacity of 2.5mn t/yr, equivalent to 350mn cf/d of gas and peak capacity of 4mn t/yr.