Kinder Morgan Inc.‘s (KMI) Texas intrastate pipelines business has struck a 20-year firm transportation services agreement with SK E&S LNG LLC, a unit of SK E&S Co. Ltd. KMI is to invest more than $150 million to provide more than 320,000 Dth/d of gas transportation services to support SK LNG’s Train III liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity at Quintana Island, TX (see Daily GPI, Sept. 10, 2013). This train is part of Freeport LNG Development‘s Freeport LNG export facility, which in total will liquefy up to 13.2 million tonnes per annum once fully operational (see Daily GPI, Nov. 25). KMI will construct and operate about 40 miles of pipeline extending from the Kinder Morgan Tejas mainline to an interconnection with Freeport LNG’s pipeline in Stratton Ridge, TX. KMI will also add compression on its existing Kinder Morgan Texas and Kinder Morgan Tejas pipeline systems to provide these services upon the startup of Train III, which is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2019. The agreement provides for the required expansion of the KMI intrastate system by more than 1 Bcf/d and will provide additional capacity to the Freeport and Chocolate Bayou areas in Texas, the company said.

Third Point LLC will provide development capital for Texas LNG Brownsville LLC‘s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project planned for the Port of Brownsville shipping channel in Brownsville, TX, Texas LNG said. Third Point, a New York-based investment fund with approximately $17 billion in assets under management, will take an equity interest in the project and join the board of Texas LNG. “Third Point’s investment in Texas LNG greatly derisks the project for all stakeholders, including feed gas suppliers, LNG offtakers, and future strategic investors,” said Texas LNG CEO Vivek Chandra. Texas LNG and Samsung Engineering Co. Ltd. have initiated a 12-month front-end engineering and design phase of the project. The project has received free trade agreement export authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy (see Daily GPI, June 12).