The Matterhorn Express Pipeline has started transporting natural gas to the Transco pipeline, providing an addition to the midstream infrastructure of the Permian Basin in Texas, as Bloomberg reported.

This development marks a crucial step in addressing the pipeline capacity constraints that have affected natural gas prices in the Permian Basin, particularly at the Waha hub.

The lack of pipeline capacity connecting the Permian basin with the Gulf Coast and Southern California has meant prices at Waha have at times gone negative in other words, producers have effectively been paying to get rid of the fuel.

Currently, Matterhorn is moving about 0.3 billion cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) into Transco.

The new pipeline has a design capacity of 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) and stretches approximately 580 miles (933Km), to take gas from the Waha hub in West Texas to the Houston area, connecting Transco and other pipelines.

This will enhance the delivery of natural gas to domestic consumers, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants on the Gulf Coast.