Executive Summary:
Infrastructure: Energy Transfer is weighing options at its Lake Charles LNG facility, including a possible conversion to an NGL marine export terminal.
Exports: NGL exports declined 10.6% W-o-W for the week ending Feb. 20.
Rigs: The total US rig count decreased during the week of Feb. 13 from 515 to 513.
Flows: US natural gas volumes in pipeline samples held flat W-o-W, averaging 82.3 Bcf/d for the week ending Feb. 22.
Calendar:
Infrastructure:
Energy Transfer (ET) has abandoned an LNG export project at its Lake Charles facility, but the company hasn’t thrown in the towel on alternatives. On its 4Q25 earnings call, CEO Marshall McCrea said ET is evaluating multiple options at Lake Charles, including a possible conversion to an NGL marine export terminal.
Lake Charles is located on the Calcasieu Ship Channel alongside Calcasieu Pass LNG and Cameron LNG – a deep-draft, brownfield location ET described as “a great terminal in a great location.” Just as important, management indicated it would prefer a partner to share development risk.
That shifts the discussion from whether Lake Charles could work for NGL exports, to who is best positioned to feed it.
Targa Resources (TRGP) is the most obvious candidate based on proximity of NGL assets. TRGP operates 55 Mb/d of fractionation in Lake Charles, with another 12.5 Mb/d nearby in Gillis. Targa also owns pipeline infrastructure running close to the Lake Charles site.
From a capital-efficiency standpoint, Targa likely requires the least incremental pipe to supply a dock. A Calcasieu outlet would also diversify TRGP’s export footprint beyond the Houston Ship Channel, where it is expanding the Galena Park LPG terminal. For Targa, Lake Charles would provide geographic balance and incremental optionality with limited greenfield build.
ONEOK (OKE) presents a different, but compelling, case as a potential partner. OKE controls roughly 230 Mb/d of fractionation capacity in Louisiana and regularly moves NGLs east from Mont Belvieu on its Cajun-Sibon system. While its fractionators are further from Lake Charles than Targa’s assets, they are meaningfully larger, and also underutilized. A Calcasieu export outlet could help monetize that Louisiana platform and potentially justify expansions on Cajun-Sibon or connecting laterals.
Both TRGP and OKE have dock projects underway. What neither has today is a dedicated international outlet for ethane.
That is the quiet constraint in this discussion. Ethane represents the largest share of the wellhead NGL barrel. Without direct export capability, TRGP and OKE rely on domestic petrochemical demand or third-party terminals to monetize that stream. By contrast, ET brings ethane export experience and technical capability.
Lake Charles is an infrastructure question first: fractionation, pipe connectivity and marine access. The strategic upside lies in integrating ethane into the export stack. The partner who can combine nearby barrels with a credible path to international ethane markets will extract the most value from a project.
Exports:
NGL exports declined 10.6% W-o-W for the week ending Feb. 20.
A 45.9% increase in LPG exports at ET’s Nederland terminal was outweighed by steep declines at EPD – EHT (-40.5%) and ET – Marcus Hook (-64.3%), driving a 10.9% overall decrease in LPG exports.
Although EPD’s Morgan’s Point and Neches River terminals posted a combined increase of 111 Mb/d, larger pullbacks at ET’s Nederland, Orbit and Marcus Hook totaled 166 Mb/d resulting in a 10.6% decline in overall ethane exports.
Rigs:
The total US rig count decreased during the week of Feb. 13 from 515 to 513. Liquids-driven basins decreased 3 rigs W-o-W, from 389 to 386.
- Anadarko (+1): Continental Resources
- Bakken (-3): Devon Energy
- Permian:
- Delaware (+1): EOG Resources
- Midland (-2): Hannathon Petroleum
- Uinta (+1): Star Oil Operating Co.
Flows:
Note: East Daley has vetted our US pipeline samples and upgraded the data tagging, resulting in a more robust capture of production trends from the daily samples.
US natural gas volumes in pipeline samples held flat W-o-W, averaging 82.3 Bcf/d for the week ending Feb. 22.
Flows in gas basins rose 0.6% to 51.5 Bcf/d. The Marcellus+Utica sample increased 1.8% to 39.2 Bcf/d, while the Haynesville sample declined 4.0% W-o-W to 11.2 Bcf/d.
Samples in liquids basins declined 1.0% W-o-W to 22.8 Bcf/d. The Permian sample declined 2.0%, while the Eagle Ford sample increased 0.8%.
Calendar:
