Venture Global is soon starting the commissioning process for Plaquemines LNG, equity research firm TPH&Co. reported July 1.

Plaquemines is an LNG liquefication and export facility located in Plaquemines Parish on the Mississippi River, near the Louisiana Gulf Coast. At capacity, the plant will export up to 20 million tonnes per annum of LNG, adding about 3.4 Bcf/d of new natural gas demand in the region.

Plaquemines LNG location
Plaquemines LNG's location. (Source: Venture Global)

At CERAWeek by S&P Global in March, Venture Global executives forecasted the plant to start taking gas in June and begin producing LNG at some point in the summer. In June, pipeline flows indicated that the plant received a small amount of gas from Enbridge’s (ENB) Gator Express Pipeline, “indicating the start of potential commissioning,” according to an email from TPH.

The Gator Express is one of three projects servicing Plaquemines, all expected to come online in the coming months and expand the network’s capacity, according to East Daley Analytics.

Besides Gator, Kinder Morgan’s (KMI) Evangeline Pass Project is expanding capacity by 1.1 Bcf/d on the Southern Natural Gas Pipeline and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline. KMI expects the project to be in service in November 2024.

The last week of June, KMI’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline filed a tariff request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, asking for the tariff to be effective by July 1. The request indicated that KMI is ready to begin up to 900 MMcf/d of natural gas delivery to Plaquemines, as agreed upon earlier in a contract between Plaquemines and Tennessee Gas, according to TPH.

TC Energy’s (TRP) Columbia Gulf East Lateral Xpress project is also expanding capacity on two pipelines to provide 725 MMcf/d of additional natural gas to the network serving Plaquemines. The project is expected to be in-service by February 2025, according to East Daley.