Kelcy Warren has spent much of the past decade pushing Energy Transfer beyond domestic pipelines and into the global export business. Kelcy Warren co-founded now exports about 20 percent of the world’s natural gas liquids and stands as the largest exporter of ethane, a byproduct of natural gas that Warren says was once so underused it was simply rejected during processing.
From Import Terminal to Export Hub
One of the clearest examples of that shift involves Lake Charles, a facility in Louisiana that the United States originally built to import natural gas. Energy Transfer bought the terminal and reengineered it into an export facility instead, part of a broader move that began in earnest in 2016 as American natural gas started flowing to Asia and helping European buyers reduce their reliance on Russian supply. The company also repurposed the long dormant Marcus Hook refinery in Pennsylvania, bringing the total number of major terminals it has converted to seven.
Betting on LNG’s Next Chapter
Energy Transfer currently exports around 13 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per day from the Gulf Coast and elsewhere, and Kelcy Warren expects that figure to approach 30 billion cubic feet as new capacity comes online. He has framed the export build out as a matter of commitment to producers rather than pure opportunism. “From my industry, which moves on spreads and volumes, I have to know how I can commit to the driller in West Texas, that I have a place to handle their supply,” he says.
The company now ships liquefied petroleum gas, butane and ethane to 93 countries, a market that barely existed before the shale boom reshaped American energy production. For Warren, the export push is simply the latest version of a question he has asked for decades about pipelines closer to home: once the supply exists, where does it need to go next. See related link for additional information.
Learn more about Kelcy Warren on https://x.com/KelcyLWarren