US authority consents to Louisiana gas pipeline
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has consented to plans by Enable Midstream Partners to build its Gulf Run natural gas pipeline in Louisiana, though raised objections June 1 to potential emissions.
Enable in 2018 said its planned Gulf Run natural gas pipeline in Louisiana would feed the growing demand for LNG exports along the US Gulf Coast. By 2019, it had landed a cornerstone shipper in Golden Pass, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil.
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From the two companies, Enable has a 20-year shipper commitment for 1.1bn ft3/d of natural gas. The pipeline could be in service as early as next year.
FERC consented to the project, though chairman Richard Glick and commissioner Allison Clements issued a joint statement of dissent, saying their agency should have prepared a separate environmental impact statement on the potential greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Glick has consistently taken a similar dissenting opinion on most FERC actions approving natural gas facilities, from pipelines to LNG export terminals.
While a project may have significant greenhouse gas emissions, the dissenting commissioners said that is not necessarily a “death knell” for the project as FERC could mandate mitigation measures.
“But before the commission can engage in that balancing process, it must first adequately assess the significance of a project’s adverse impacts, including its impact on climate change,” they stated. “For these reasons, we dissent in part.”
None of the project partners offered statements about FERC’s position.
Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil are developing the Golden Pass export terminal which is expected to be operational by the middle of this decade and rely in part on the Gulf Run pipeline.
In March, Qatar Petroleum issued an invitation to tender for the chartering of LNG carriers for its future LNG shipping requirements, including requirements for the LNG volumes that will be produced from the Golden Pass LNG export project.