EIA: Recent mergers change the landscape of natural gas pipeline ownership
Graphic courtesy of the US Energy Information Administration.
On September 6, Enbridge Inc. announced its purchase of Spectra Energy Corp. Enbridge currently operates 1,800 miles of large-diameter (24 inches or greater) natural gas pipelines in the US. Before its acquisition of Spectra Energy, Enbridge was the 15th-largest holder of large-diameter US natural gas pipeline miles (including co-owned pipeline), and Spectra ranked fourth in the nation with nearly 9,800 miles. Their newly combined pipeline holdings are still the fourth-largest overall.
Nearly 82% of large-diameter pipeline miles and 62% of all pipeline miles in the United States are owned by 10 companies. Kinder Morgan Inc., with 32,000 miles of large-diameter pipeline, has more than double the mileage of TransCanada Corp., which acquired Columbia Pipeline Group in July 2015. The merger of Energy Transfer Equity LP (third-largest holder) and Williams Companies, Inc. (fifth-largest holder) that was recently canceled would have resulted in a large natural gas pipeline conglomerate ranked second to Kinder Morgan, which owns about 19% of all U.S. pipeline.
Most of the top-10 companies, which includes some large regional players, are common carrier pipelines regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The top five companies have national or international scale operations.
![](/media/1042/gpenews_300x140.jpg)
- Woodfibre LNG receives BCEAO order to move floatel to site to house non-local workforce
- QatarEnergy, Exxon seek to remove contractor from Texas gas project
- Veolia, Waga Energy and ENGIE collaborate to develop renewable natural gas industry in France
- Congo Brazzaville becomes an LNG exporting country
- Fulcrum LNG to pair with McDermott, Baker Hughes for Guyana gas project
- EU approves law to hit gas imports with methane emissions limit
- Veolia, Waga Energy and ENGIE collaborate to develop renewable natural gas industry in France
- Hawai'i Gas selects Eurus Energy America, Bana Pacific for hydrogen and renewable natural gas projects
- TotalEnergies increases LNG deliveries to Asia with two new contracts
- Desert Mountain Energy Corp. initiates helium production
Comments