Flows – Matterhorn Express Pipeline throughput hit a new high of 1.4 Bcf/d to interstate pipelines near Katy, lifted by new interconnects with the Gulf South and Trunkline systems.
Matterhorn began delivering natural gas on October 1 from the Permian Basin to Katy on the Texas Gulf Coast. Total flows from Matterhorn reached 1.4 Bcf/d Tuesday (November 5) on five interstate pipes East Daley monitors. We suspect Matterhorn is also delivering to Enterprise’s Texas intrastate system in Wharton County.
The Matterhorn - Gulf South interconnect went into service on October 21, according to IIR Energy flow. The new Trunkline meter began receiving gas last Friday (November 1). Other systems receiving gas from Matterhorn include Natural Gas Pipeline of America (NGPL), Texas Eastern, and the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line.
The new Gulf South interconnect has a design capacity of 750 MMcf/d, and Trunkline can receive up to 245 MMcf/d. Matterhorn now has 2.42 Bcf/d of capacity across five interstate interconnects. The Gulf South meter has been slow to ramp, posting flows of ~40-45 MMcf/d since the last week of October. Meanwhile, the new interconnect with Trunkline has steadily delivered ~155 MMcf/d since Saturday (November 2).
See East Daley’s Permian Basin S&D Report and Houston Ship Channel S&D Report for more information about market impacts from the Matterhorn pipeline.
Infrastructure – WhiteWater Midstream has entered the Haynesville business. The Austin-based company announced a final investment decision (FID) on the Pelican Pipeline, a new 1.75 Bcf/d line linking Haynesville development to the Gillis hub in southwestern Louisiana.
The new Pelican line offers producers a direct connection to the largest LNG demand center in the US. The pipeline is expected to begin service in early 2027.
East Daley has called for new egress capacity of the Haynesville in the Southeast Gulf Supply & Demand Report. In the near term, we expect Williams’ (WMB) Louisiana Energy Gateway (LEG) and Momentum’s NG3 to add 3.5 Bcf/d of capacity by July 2025, and another 200 MMcf/d from the LEAP Phase 4 expansion in mid-2026. However, to meet growing LNG demand on the Gulf Coast, an additional 2.3 Bcf/d of Haynesville egress capacity would be needed. Previously, we had expected that new capacity to be built primarily through expansions on DT Midstream’s (DTM) LEAP and Energy Transfer’s (ET) Gulf Run, both of which are expandable to over 3 Bcf/d.
However, it seems WhiteWater has grabbed a significant chunk of that potential market. Including Pelican, total Haynesville south egress capacity will total ~12.5 Bcf/d, and other midstream companies will have to fight to secure commitments to underwrite any further incremental expansions.
East Daley balances LNG demand forecasts against Haynesville production to determine how much volume and capacity is needed to supply incremental LNG demand growth. See our Southeast Gulf Supply & Demand Report to learn more.
Flows – Planned maintenance on the Permian Highway Pipeline will likely to keep Permian Basin gas prices under pressure in November.
Operator Kinder Morgan (KMI) plans to conduct inspections on PHP compressor stations from November 5-19 that will remove ~1 Bcf/d of takeaway from the Permian. The work will reduce PHP operating capacity to 1.48 Bcf/d from November 5-9, to 1.45 Bcf/d from November 10-14, and to 2.16 Bcf/d from November 15-19. PHP can normally move 2.5 Bcf/d of gas.
Storage – Traders and analysts expect the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to report a 65 Bcf storage injection for the week ending November 1, according to a survey by The Desk. Based on the forecast, the official injection season (April to October) would close at an inventory level of 3,928 Bcf.
A 65 Bcf injection would increase the surplus to the 5-year average by 33 Bcf to 211 Bcf, the second consecutive week the surplus would expand. The surplus to last year would also increase by 46 Bcf to 152 Bcf.
Forecasts call for above-normal temperatures to continue across much of the Lower 48 through mid-November. The mild weather and stagnant demand mean storage injections are likely to continue through the first two weeks of November, and potentially longer. Early market estimates predict that, along with this week’s 65 Bcf forecast, a total of 130-150 Bcf could be injected over the next three EIA surveys (November 1-15). If net injections exceed 140 Bcf over this period, working gas inventories would top 4 Tcf for the first time since November 2016.
The chart shows a revised storage forecast where inventories reach 4 Tcf in mid-November, followed by two weeks of relatively small injections to close out the month. East Daley’s forecast in the Macro Supply & Demand Forecast assumes the return of 10-year normal weather from December ’24 – March ’25, storage inventories ending the withdrawal season just above 1,900 Bcf.
Rigs – US rigs decreased by 9 W-o-W to bring the total count to 562 for the October 26 week. Basins losing rigs include the Permian (-7), Uinta (-1) and Bakken (-1). The large drop in the Permian is most likely due to rig moves and should recover next week. The Anadarko and Eagle Ford each added 1 rig on the week.
On the midstream side, Targa Resources (TRGP) is down 4 rigs total with losses on its Midland and Delaware systems. Williams (WMB) lost 3 rigs with reductions on its ArkLaTex, Marcellus + Utica, Green River and DJ systems.
East Daley’s weekly Midstream Activity Tracker monitors rig activity by basin and by gathering and processing (G&P) system to better understand midstream impacts. We allocate rigs and monitor flows through 150+ public and privately owned G&P systems in every North American basin. Reach out for more information on the Midstream Activity Tracker.
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