Moss Lake Partners submitted its pre-filing to FERC earlier this month for a $4.5 billion project. The Houston-based energy infrastructure and logistics company plans to capitalize on the takeaway opportunity of low-cost gas and liquid volumes in West Texas by building a 42-inch long haul pipeline from the Delaware Basin to Southwest Louisiana – the DeLa Express – and building an NGL export facility in Hackberry.

Hackberry NGL is MLP’s proposed natural gas liquids export project in Cameron Parish.

Natural Gas Liquids are natural fuels and feedstocks for energy and chemical markets.

NGL commodities are components of a wet, natural gas stream, explained Jeff Frase, strategic advisor for Moss Lake Partners. When cooled, it separates into a liquid mixture. “With pressure and heat, this raw NGL mixture splits into natural fuels and feedstocks like ethane, propane and butane used for energy and chemical markets.”

It is different from Liquified Natural Gas, a commodity, primarily methane, that has been liquified by reducing the temperature for safety of storage and scale to lower the net unit logistics cost. When LNG reaches its destination, import facilities heat the liquid to convert it back to pipeline quality gas for transportation to end-users. The LNG permitting pause for new facilities does not impact this project.

“At the Hackberry NGL marine terminal, we intend to load NGL purity products on ocean-going ships for export to U.S. allied nations and trading partners,” Frase said.

Moss Lake Partners projects will also supply low-nitrogen feed gas to LNG facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“Hackberry’s NGL’s proposed export facility will have significant freight advantages over the long-term due to its close proximity to the ocean, and the fact that there is significantly less congestion than other ports in the U.S. Gulf Coast, some of which is due to the natural geography of the area,” Frase said.

At this time, Moss Lake Projects are targeted to be in service in 2028.