Tom Long, co-CEO and CFO for San Antonio-based Energy Transfer Partners, said recently his company could have the next pipeline from west Texas after this year’s launch of Matterhorn Express. Long said the industry has “a strong interest in another pipeline probably by mid- to late-2026. We are very optimistic that we will be the next pipeline to come out of west Texas.”
Capacity on Energy Transfer’s Warrior natural gas pipeline (1.5-to-2 bcfd) is 25 percent subscribed, Long said, for the 260 miles of greenfield pipeline between Midland Basin and Dallas-Fort Worth – using loops and existing infrastructure for the remainder of the route to the Louisiana coast. Long said final investment decision by late 3Q or early 4Q will be needed for a late 2026 in-service date for Warrior.
Along with increasing volumes of crude oil in Permian Basin comes large amounts of associated gas – some consumed locally, some shipped to Gulf Coast for conversion to LNG, some shipped to western U.S. and Mexico. “But the more that gets produced, the more that needs to get shipped,” Oil & Gas Journal reported, “and the more constrained transportation out of the region becomes, the weaker prices get. You can’t sell what you can’t get to market.”