A WhiteWater-led joint venture (JV) has reached a final investment decision (FID) on the latest natural gas pipeline project out of the Permian Basin.
The JV announced Aug. 25 that the Eiger Express Pipeline, a 2.5 Bcf/d, 450-mile line is expected to be in service around the middle of 2028.
The line will connect to Permian Basin networks and transport natural gas to the Katy area on the west side of Houston. WhiteWater said the line will take its supply from gas processing plants in the Midland and Delaware basins via the Agua Dulce Pipeline, another WhiteWater JV that includes Enbridge and MPLX.
The ownership of the Eiger was structured so that some of the JV partners of the Matterhorn Express Pipeline, the Permian’s newest natural gas egress system, were able to buy larger stakes in the newer project.
The Matterhorn JV owns a 70% stake in the Eiger pipeline. Matterhorn ownership is split by WhiteWater (65%), ONEOK (15%), MPLX (10%) and Enbridge (10%).
The remaining stake in the Eiger pipeline is split between ONEOK (15%) and MPLX (15%). Including their stakes in the Matterhorn JV, ONEOK in total owns 25.5% of the Eiger project and MPLX has a 22% stake.
The JV tends to prefer mountain names. The Eiger Express is named after a 13,105-ft peak in the Swiss Alps, the same range as the Matterhorn.
“This important infrastructure project is needed to provide additional transportation capacity out of the highly productive Permian Basin,” said Pierce H. Norton II, ONEOK president and CEO, in a press release. “This pipeline's strategic location offers connectivity to growing natural gas demand markets, helping to meet the need for increasing electricity generation and international demand for [LNG] exports.”
WhiteWater, which is backed by FIC Partners Management and I Squared Capital, will operate the line.
The Eiger is currently the fourth natural gas egress project out of the Permian to reach FID over the last two years. The Whitewater-led BlackComb project, a 2.5 Bcf/d project, is expected to begin service in the second half of 2026. Kinder Morgan’s expansion of its Gulf Coast Express Pipeline’s capacity by 570 MMcf/d is scheduled for completion in the middle of 2026.
Energy Transfer has scheduled its 1.5-Bcf/d Hugh Brinson pipeline to be in service by the end of 2026.
Analytical firm RBN Energy’s Housley Carr noted that the new project shows both the rising gas-to-oil ratios in the Permian and the forecasted increase in market demand for natural gas.
“Crude oil production in the Permian may or may not have peaked —that’s TBD,” Carr said in a report on the Eiger. “What we do know is that even if the shale play’s oil output flatlines, the Permian will generate increasing volumes of natural gas (and NGLs) and virtually all of it will need to be piped to other markets, primarily the Gulf Coast to feed existing and planned LNG export terminals, gas-fired power plants and other large consumers.”