Devon Energy has taken a positive final investment decision on the Solitude Pipeline System, a WhiteWater-led joint venture that will build two 48-inch natural gas pipelines from the Permian Basin to Katy, Texas, on the Gulf Coast.
The system is designed for a phased build-out:
| Phase | Capacity | In service |
|---|---|---|
| First | about 2.25 Bcf/d | second half of 2029 |
| Second | similarly sized | 2030 |
Devon can expand the system further to meet shipper demand. Construction and the in-service dates still depend on customary regulatory approvals.
Permian producers have long dealt with volatile, sometimes negative, pricing at the Waha Hub, where takeaway capacity has not kept pace with associated gas growth. Firm, long-haul capacity to the Gulf Coast moves most of Devon's Delaware Basin gas out of Waha and into markets tied to growing LNG export and power generation demand, where North American liquefaction capacity is expected to more than double by the end of the decade.
Devon has already locked in international LNG-linked pricing for some of that gas: a 100 MMcf-a-day agreement beginning in 2027, and another 150 MMcf a day beginning in 2028. Solitude is meant to give the company the scale and duration to reach that demand.
Clay Gaspar, Devon's president and CEO, said the company has worked to turn physical constraints in the Delaware Basin, water, processing, compression, takeaway and power, into "a source of value rather than a tax on our returns."
Devon holds one of the largest operated positions in the economic core of the Delaware Basin.
