Haynesville Shale’s Got the Gas but Pipeline Disputes Stall Egress

Chevron Corp. is in a deal to supply gas to Williams’ Louisiana Energy Gateway (LEG) pipeline from 26,000 dedicated acres in Panola County, Texas.

A flyer marketing Chevron’s 71,000 net Panola acres in 2024 reported, “Committed future capacity on LEG provides direct access to premium markets, including [Williams’] Transco, industrial markets and LNG export demand.”

But Chevron cut D&C spending in the county after signing the deal with Williams in 2023. The 1.8 Bcf/d LEG long-haul pipe was to come online this year but was delayed by a dispute with Energy Transfer.

Meanwhile, Momentum Midstream’s new Generation Gas Gathering, or NG3, project will take 1.7 Bcf/d of Haynesville gas to the Louisiana Gulf Coast—expandable to 2.2 Bcf/d.

The project was to be completed in second-half 2024 but pushed to year-end 2025 while also delayed by an Energy Transfer lawsuit. The anchor commitment is from Expand Energy with an option to own 35%.

Nick Dell’Osso, Expand Energy’s president and CEO, said at a Goldman Sachs conference in January, “We’re gaining access to the [NG3] Gillis delivery point here over the next year out of Louisiana, which is going to put us directly in contact with the LNG export facilities.”

DT Midstream’s 1.9 Bcf/d LEAP pipeline project was also sued by Energy Transfer. In all three cases, Energy Transfer said it had exclusive right of way of its Tiger pipeline route. The others’ pipes could not cross Tiger’s path, the company claimed.

Tiger is a 189-mile east-west route across North Louisiana, noted Alyssa Schabel in an RBN Energy report, and connects with Energy Transfer’s south-directed Gulf Run gas pipeline.

Federal courts and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected ET’s claims last summer.