Cheniere Energy gets approval to begin work on 200-mile Oklahoma pipeline

Houston’s Cheniere Energy finally has received the go-ahead to begin construction on its more than $1 billion Midship natural gas pipeline in Oklahoma.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal energy Regulatory Commission authorized Cheniere to start construction on about 13 miles of the 234-mile line that will carry natural gas from near Kingfisher south to the state line.

The company said it intends to begin work sometime this year. Once completed, the Midship will deliver 1.44 billion cubic feet a day of gas from the Anadarko basin to the existing pipelines near Bennington, Oklahoma. It will eventually be transported to the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southeast markets where demand for natural gas and for liquefild natural gas export is growing.

One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to fuel about five million U.S. homes for a day.

Total U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to rise to 8.9 bcfd by the end of 2019 and 10.3 bcfd by the end of 2020 from 5.1 bcfd now, which should make the country the third-biggest LNG exporter by capacity in 2019.

Most of the U.S. LNG export terminals, including Cheniere’s Sabine Pass in Louisiana and Corpus Christi in Texas, are located or being built along the Gulf of Mexico.