LNG, AI drive natural gas infrastructure build-out By EPN Staff Kinder Morgan, one of the world’s largest pipeline companies, plans to build a 216-mile, $1.7 billion pipeline from Katy, Texas, to the liquid natural gas and industrial corridor near Port Arthur, the company recently announced. This Trident Interstate Project is one of several natural gas infrastructure projects fueled by surging energy demands, in part by data center and artificial intelligence power needs. Why it matters Natural gas is the nation’s leading energy source for electricity generation, and U.S. LNG is poised for major growth. Kinder Morgan executives were bullish on their industry’s future when they announced the project as part of the company’s most recent earnings call. The Trident project is one of several major expansions Kinder Morgan announced in recent months, with a cost to the company of about $5 billion: Expansion of the company’s GCX system out of the Permian Basin The South System Expansion 4 project crossing Georgia and Alabama The Mississippi Crossing Line The Trident Interstate Project Kinder Morgan Executive Chair Richard Kinder told shareholders the returns from these projects will be “significantly above our cost of capital” and that the company sees “other sizable opportunities to grow our business.” “In fact, this is the most exciting time to be in the midstream natural gas market that I've seen in my long decades in this business,” Kinder said during the company’s January earnings call. The bigger picture Company CEO Kimberly Allen Dang told analysts the company expects natural gas demand to grow substantially by 2030, with increased power demands from data centers helping to drive that growth. “I think that the encouragement that [President Donald Trump’s] administration has given on the data center development, their desire to see American energy do well, I think, all plays into a nice long-term trend for natural gas demand,” Dang said. SUGGESTED STORIES EIA: Eastern states to drive growth of natural gas, LNG Liquified Natural Gas exports out of Gulf Coast facilities are driving natural gas demand growth in the United States, but more of the gas ultimately exported will likely come from eastern states, according to a recent Energy Information Administration analysis. Read more U.S. manufacturing is driving demand for natural gas Energy usage in the U.S. manufacturing sector has been ticking up since a 2010 low, and consumption increased 6% between 2018 and 2022, according to the latest available numbers from the Energy Information Administration. This Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS) is done e Read more Texas has big plans for natural gas-fired power plants There are 130 new gas plants, or planned gas plant expansions, proposed or under construction in Texas, according to a new report from an environmental advocacy group. That would be enough to generate 58 gigawatts of new electricity capacity – roughly enough to power 48 million home Read more
EIA: Eastern states to drive growth of natural gas, LNG Liquified Natural Gas exports out of Gulf Coast facilities are driving natural gas demand growth in the United States, but more of the gas ultimately exported will likely come from eastern states, according to a recent Energy Information Administration analysis. Read more
U.S. manufacturing is driving demand for natural gas Energy usage in the U.S. manufacturing sector has been ticking up since a 2010 low, and consumption increased 6% between 2018 and 2022, according to the latest available numbers from the Energy Information Administration. This Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS) is done e Read more
Texas has big plans for natural gas-fired power plants There are 130 new gas plants, or planned gas plant expansions, proposed or under construction in Texas, according to a new report from an environmental advocacy group. That would be enough to generate 58 gigawatts of new electricity capacity – roughly enough to power 48 million home Read more
