Natural Gas Pipelines Industry Profile

Companies in this industry own and operate pipelines that transport natural gas from process plants to local distribution systems. Major companies include Energy Transfer Partners, Enterprise Products Partners, Kinder Morgan, and ONEOK (all based in the US), as well as Australian Pipeliner, Gazprom (Russia), and TC Energy (Canada).

Global exports of natural gas total about 516 billion cubic meters (bcm), including US exports of about 95 bcm, according to BP's 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy. Russia, Qatar, Australia, and Malaysia are among the world's largest natural gas exporters. Driven largely by demand from emerging markets, natural gas consumption by US consuming sectors is about 32 trillion cubic feet (TcF), according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The US natural gas pipeline industry includes about 2,000 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $27 billion.

Direct and wholesale natural gas distribution is covered in the Natural Gas Distribution & Marketing industry profile. Production of natural gas from wells is covered in the Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry profile.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by economic activity and population growth, which drive energy use. Profitability depends largely on the efficiency of operations. Companies that operate multiple pipeline networks may enjoy economies of scale in purchasing and administrative costs. The US industry is highly concentrated: the eight largest companies account for about 70% of revenue.