Morgan Stanley plans to build a facility in Texas to export compressed natural gas (CNG), Reuters reported. With the shale gas boom in the U.S. continuing to produce record levels of natural gas, the financial services firm hopes to export shipments of CNG to customers abroad, including to U.S. trade partners such as El Salvador and Honduras. While these countries mainly generate energy from coal, a switch to natural gas could mean financial savings. Morgan Stanley filed the proposed export plant plans with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy in May.
The facility is expected to span 50 acres near Freeport, Texas. Last year, the Obama administration approved a natural gas export project in Freeport for shipments of liquefied natural gas, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Once Morgan Stanley’s CNG export plant is completed, the company will own and operate the facility. The plant will be able to export 60 billion cubic feet per year of CNG.
“This could be something very significant, and if it was done successfully, there would undoubtedly be more of these,” said Andy Weissman, an energy lawyer at Haynes Boone, according to Reuters.