Key Takeaways
- Energy Transfer and its partners have reached a final investment decision on the proposed $1.6 billion South Mississippi Pipeline, targeting service by March 2030.
- The 215-mile pipeline is designed to transport approximately 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and connect Louisiana supply routes with Florida Gas Transmission in Mississippi.
- Long-term transportation agreements, including 20-year commitments, provide a foundation for the project’s commercial outlook.
- Energy Transfer is also expanding its natural gas processing, NGL fractionation, and export infrastructure through projects such as Frac X, Bear II, and the Nederland expansion.
- The Hugh Brinson Pipeline and other developments demonstrate the partnership’s broader strategy of increasing transportation and processing capacity across key energy-producing regions.
Energy Transfer’s newest natural gas pipeline won’t carry a molecule until 2030, and it already has customers signed up for two decades.
The partnership reached a final investment decision in early November on the South Mississippi Pipeline, a 215-mile, 36-inch line expected to cost about $1.6 billion. It will run from a connection near the Perryville hub in northeastern Louisiana to an interconnect with Florida Gas Transmission in southern Mississippi, Oil & Gas Journal reported. Planned capacity is about 1.2 billion cubic feet a day. Energy Transfer will likely own 51% and operate it, with shippers holding the rest.
South Mississippi Pipeline Route, Contracts and Open Season
Customer interest is still being gathered. A binding open season launched Oct. 28 proposes a receipt point in Richland Parish, Louisiana, and a delivery point in the George County, Mississippi, area, and the company plans to co-locate most of the line with existing infrastructure. Final sizing will be set once the open season closes.
“We have secured long-term 20-year demand-based firm transportation agreements,” co-CEO Tom Long said on the Nov. 3 earnings call.
Co-CEO Mackie McCrea described the line as a link between the partnership’s pipelines around Perryville and Florida Gas. It also works in reverse. “We have the ability to backhaul 2 Bcf from South Mississippi deep into Louisiana,” he said, adding that the project “will drive other upstream opportunities.” One shipper supporting it has signed a long-term deal, starting in 2029, for capacity moving down from the Marcellus and Utica.
Projects like this sit squarely in Kelcy Warren’s background. Before he co-founded Energy Transfer in 1996, he started out at Lone Star Gas as a pipeline design engineer. The company he helped build now runs more than 140,000 miles of pipe.
Frac X and Bear II Add Gas Processing and NGL Capacity
The pipeline wasn’t the only approval Kelcy Warren’s partnership disclosed. It also committed to Frac X, its 10th fractionator at Mont Belvieu, Texas. The unit is designed to separate 200,000 barrels a day of natural gas liquids into products such as ethane and propane, and it’s expected online in the first half of 2029. The third-quarter presentation puts the company’s combined Mont Belvieu fractionation capacity at about 1.6 million barrels a day once Frac X and the earlier Frac IX are both running. That’s up from more than 1.15 million barrels a day across eight fractionators today.
Upstream, the partnership approved Bear II, a 200 million-cubic-feet-a-day cryogenic processing plant beside its existing Bear plant in the Delaware Basin. Long put its cost at about $225 million, with service expected in the third quarter of 2027. In the Midland Basin, the 275 million-cubic-feet-a-day Mustang Draw II plant started up in October.
Exports are growing, too. Energy Transfer upsized its Nederland ethane export expansion to about 300,000 barrels a day, from 240,000. The project also includes 55,000 barrels a day of propane and butane export capacity and two new ship docks. Service is staged to begin in 2028.
Hugh Brinson Pipeline Phase II Comes Next
For Kelcy Warren’s Energy Transfer, the nearest milestone is in Texas. The Hugh Brinson Pipeline’s first phase, with about 1.5 billion cubic feet a day of capacity, entered full service on Sept. 1, ahead of schedule.
Phase II adds downstream compression. It’s on schedule for the first quarter of 2027, and the full project is still expected to come in under budget.
South Mississippi’s timeline runs longer. Its open season stays open through Nov. 25, and service is targeted on or before March 1, 2030, if the project advances as planned.
FAQs
What is the South Mississippi Pipeline project?
The South Mississippi Pipeline is a proposed 215-mile natural gas pipeline backed by Energy Transfer and its partners, with an estimated cost of approximately $1.6 billion. It is designed to connect infrastructure near Perryville, Louisiana, with Florida Gas Transmission in southern Mississippi.
How much natural gas will the South Mississippi Pipeline transport?
The pipeline is expected to have a planned transportation capacity of approximately 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. Its final size and capacity will depend on the results of the binding open season and customer commitments.
What are Energy Transfer’s Frac X and Bear II projects?
Frac X is a planned natural gas liquids fractionation facility at Mont Belvieu, Texas, designed to process 200,000 barrels per day. Bear II is a proposed cryogenic natural gas processing plant in the Delaware Basin with a planned capacity of 200 million cubic feet per day.
How does Energy Transfer’s pipeline expansion support the energy industry?
Additional pipeline, processing, and export capacity can help move natural gas and natural gas liquids from production areas to industrial users, storage facilities, and international markets. These investments also create opportunities for producers and shippers seeking additional transportation and processing services.
When is the South Mississippi Pipeline expected to begin operations?
Energy Transfer is targeting service on or before March 1, 2030, subject to the project’s progress and final development plans. This follows an open season scheduled to remain active through November 25, 2026, as the partnership gathers additional customer commitments.