Enstor Gas LLC said its Katy Storage and Transportation natural gas storage facility west of Houston became carbon neutral during the third quarter.

Moreover, Enstor, an affiliate of infrastructure-focused private equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners LLC, said the facility in Katy is the first U.S. carbon-neutral natural gas storage facility.

“Achieving carbon neutrality at Katy demonstrates our commitment to meeting our customers’ needs but also to our dedication to our ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles,” said Enstor Gas CEO Paul Bieniawski. “It further highlights our company’s focus on operating our assets in the most responsible manner.”

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The Katy hub in Fort Bend and Waller counties boasts a working gas storage capacity of 23.5 Bcf and injection and withdrawal rates of 750,000 Mcf/d and 700,000 Mcf/d, respectively, according to Enstor. The company said the dual pipeline header system at the depleted gas production reservoir — redeveloped as a gas storage reservoir — interconnects with 15 major natural gas pipelines to accommodate production from the Northeast, South Texas and Permian Basin.

LNG, Mexico Exports Too?

The hub also could be help to advance liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports overseas and via pipeline to Mexico.

“The Katy facility is well positioned to serve growing market demand for LNG liquefaction and natural gas exports into Mexico and serves the storage needs of natural gas producers, energy marketers, electric power generators, utility and industrial users,” said Enstor.

Enstor’s achievement at Katy aligns with efforts across the U.S. upstream, midstream and utility sectors to cap collective methane emissions at 1%. The Katy storage hub achieved carbon-neutral status by evaluating carbon emissions from Scope 1 facility operations and Scope 2 energy use, following U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, and purchasing corresponding offsets, Enstor said. The company added that its offsets and resulting carbon neutrality will benefit the EPA Scope 3 emissions calculations of Katy’s upstream and downstream customers in the natural gas value chain.

“Enstor’s success in making Katy Storage and Transportation carbon-neutral is consistent with ArcLight’s strategy to focus on ESG principles through meaningful actions, including the measurement and reduction of the carbon footprint across our portfolio of assets,” said ArcLight managing partner Dan Revers.