Sempra Files with FERC on a 27 MTPA Port Arthur LNG North Expansion, Woodside Confirms Louisiana LNG at 28 Percent Complete Toward 2029 First Cargo, Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan Sanction a 5 Billion Dollar Western Gateway Refined Products Pipeline, and Skanska Signs a 1.2 Billion Dollar Contract for Four Southeast Data Centers as Kimmeridge Warns Up to Half of Planned US Data Centers Face Delay

Sempra Infrastructure Opens FERC Pre Filing on the 27 MTPA Port Arthur LNG North Expansion in Southeast Texas

On August 27, Sempra Energy's Port Arthur LNG unit initiated the federal permitting process for a major expansion of its liquefied natural gas export operations in Southeast Texas. The proposed Port Arthur LNG North Project would add four liquefaction trains capable of producing up to 27 million metric tons per annum of LNG, significantly expanding Sempra's export footprint on the US Gulf Coast. Each train would be capable of producing up to 6.73 million tons per year of LNG under optimal conditions. The project would also include three LNG storage tanks and marine facilities with up to two LNG berths for loading cargoes onto tankers. If approved and constructed, the project could begin exporting LNG in the second half of 2034. The facilities would be built on land already owned by Port Arthur LNG. Sempra separately approved a 14 billion dollar Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 earlier in 2026, and Port Arthur North represents the third major sanctioned or filed expansion at the site.

Port Arthur LNG North is now the second major Texas Gulf Coast LNG project to enter formal FERC pre filing in the past month, joining Coastal Bend LNG's 19.2 million ton per year four train project that filed on August 5. Together the two Texas Gulf Coast pre filings represent a combined 46.2 million tons per year of new LNG export capacity coming forward for permitting during a single 30 day window. That is on top of two already sanctioned Gulf Coast LNG FIDs from earlier this year, Woodside's 16.5 million ton per year Louisiana LNG and the 12.2 million ton per year Commonwealth LNG in Cameron Parish Louisiana, both currently in execution.

Woodside Confirms Louisiana LNG at 28 Percent Complete Toward 2029 First Cargo, and RWE Reinvests 900 Million Dollars for a 16 Percent Equity Stake

Australia's Woodside Energy confirmed on August 24 that its 17.5 billion dollar Louisiana LNG project in Calcasieu Parish Louisiana was 28 percent complete at the end of the second quarter of 2026. Since Woodside announced final investment decision on the project more than 14 months ago, activities at the site have ramped up steadily. Two massive LNG storage tanks are under construction along with three LNG trains. Structural steel has been erected for trains 1 and 2, and concrete pilings have progressed for train 3. At the end of the second quarter, trains 1, 2, and 3 were 35 percent, 25 percent, and 18 percent complete respectively. Woodside confirmed the project remains on budget with first cargo targeted for 2029, and stated key milestones were achieved for the LNG storage tanks and marine infrastructure during the first half. When complete Louisiana LNG will have export capacity of approximately 3.8 billion cubic feet per day, or roughly 16.5 million tons per year.

Separately on August 26, German utility RWE relinquished offshore wind licenses in Germany and reinvested approximately 900 million dollars of the proceeds into a 16 percent equity stake in the Louisiana LNG project. The transaction is one of the clearest signals of the reallocation of European utility capital from offshore wind to US LNG that has accelerated through 2026, and Louisiana LNG is now among the most heavily equity backed US LNG export projects in construction.

Phillips 66, Kinder Morgan, and HF Sinclair Sanction a 5 Billion Dollar 1,300 Mile Western Gateway Refined Products Pipeline, and Phillips 66 Commits to the Zeus Gas Plant Plus a Third Coastal Bend Fractionator

On August 11 Phillips 66, Kinder Morgan, and HF Sinclair announced final investment decision on the 5 billion dollar Western Gateway refined products pipeline system. Phillips 66 will own 49.9 percent of the venture, Kinder Morgan 35.1 percent, and HF Sinclair 15 percent. Western Gateway is a 1,300 mile refined products pipeline system with a design capacity of 230,000 barrels per day that will establish a new fuel supply route from St. Louis Missouri and Gulf Coast origin points to Arizona and California. The project is targeting completion in 2029. Phillips 66 will contribute nearly 2.5 billion dollars in cash for the project, while Kinder Morgan will contribute about 250 million dollars and HF Sinclair about 750 million dollars.

Separately Phillips 66 disclosed in its August 5 quarterly update that it is proceeding with four immediate project milestones. Dos Picos II, a 220 MMcf per day Midland Basin gas processing plant, achieved full production. Phillips 66 announced construction of the Zeus Gas Plant, a new 300 MMcf per day Permian Basin gas processing project with an associated 45 mile 20 inch Midland Express Pipeline delivering up to 230 MMcf per day, both targeted to be online in 2028. Phillips 66 also announced construction of a third Coastal Bend fractionator in Robstown Texas (part of the Corpus Christi area), a 100,000 barrel per day NGL fractionator with associated purity pipeline expansion and water treatment infrastructure, targeting service in 2028. And Phillips 66 continues construction at the CPChem QatarEnergy 8.5 billion dollar Golden Triangle Polymers Project in Orange Texas, a 2.08 million ton per year ethane cracker and 2 million tons per year of HDPE capacity, with full operations expected in 2027.

Enbridge also signed an exclusive option on August 7 to acquire the TTC Connector, a 25 mile 300 MMcf per day pipeline currently under construction that will connect Enbridge's Tres Palacios gas storage facility to the Coastal Bend Header pipeline for delivery to the Freeport LNG export facility. The TTC Connector is expected to enter service by the end of 2026. And on August 24 ONEOK confirmed the Denver Refined Products Expansion was placed in service August 1, adding 35,000 barrels per day of capacity into one of the fastest growing markets in the company's footprint along with a new direct jet fuel connection to Denver International Airport.

Prometheus and Istmo Announce a 1.5 GW Reeves County Behind the Meter Data Center Campus, Skanska Signs a 1.2 Billion Dollar Four Data Center Southeast Contract, and Meta Expands Hyperion by 1,400 Acres to 5 GW

The data center pipeline continued to expand aggressively this week. Prometheus Hyperscale and Istmo Energy announced on August 20 that they will jointly develop a behind the meter hyperscale data center campus in Reeves County Texas. The Pecos campus is designed for 1.5 gigawatts of compute in phase 1 with a path to 2.5 gigawatts and targets first power in 2027. The campus will run on pipeline gas and ethane from a co located fractionation facility, with closed loop cooling. Meta separately expanded its Hyperion campus in Richland Parish Louisiana from 2 gigawatts to 5 gigawatts across an additional 1,400 acres, part of what is now a project investment above 50 billion dollars.

On August 20 Skanska announced a 1.2 billion dollar contract to build four new data centers in the US Southeast for an existing client. The project covers four buildings totaling approximately 75,000 square meters (808,000 square feet). Skanska's scope is the shell construction plus interior fit out of technical spaces, support areas, and office functions. Construction begins in the third quarter of 2026 and is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2028, a two year build window. Skanska also signed a 238 million dollar contract on August 13 for a 22,000 square meter five data hall building in Virginia running from August 2026 to May 2028. Amazon Web Services is expanding its Hobart Indiana Data Center Campus from six to 26 planned buildings, bringing the full development to roughly 2 gigawatts of facility power capacity. Microsoft restarted construction across its Heath, Hebron, and New Albany campuses in Licking County Ohio, totaling 17 buildings and approximately 869 megawatts, targeting operations by the end of 2029. Fermi America's HyperGrid Project Matador near Amarillo Texas continues to advance at up to 11 gigawatts of planned capacity, scalable to 17 gigawatts.

ConstructConnect's August 2026 Data Center Report confirmed the June total for data center construction starts hit 22.3 billion dollars, the second highest monthly total on record, exceeded only by the 25.5 billion dollar January 2026 figure. Twenty three projects broke ground in June, pushing 2026 year to date start count to 116. More than 75 percent of planned US data center construction starts through the end of 2026 are in the Southeast region. Data center construction spending in 2026 has already surpassed 81 billion dollars through the first half, up 46 percent year over year.

Kimmeridge Warns Up to Half of Planned US Data Centers Face Delay, Moratorium Nation Confirms 533 Local Moratoriums Across 42 States, and the Construction Workforce Gap Remains the Binding Execution Constraint

On August 26 Bloomberg reported that Kimmeridge Energy Management (the investment firm behind the 13 billion dollar Commonwealth LNG project) warned as many as half of the proposed data centers in the US are at risk of delay or cancellation because of growing political backlash and the physical complexity of construction. That warning tracks with the August 12 report by the New York Post that local authorities in more than 500 US jurisdictions have enacted measures banning or suspending the construction of large scale data centers. The private research project Moratorium Nation identified 533 infrastructure development moratoriums across 42 states as of the end of July. New moratoriums listed in the database surged from 7 in 2023 and 6 in 2024 to 59 in 2025 and 294 during the first seven months of 2026. Axios reported August 25 that at least 75 data center projects nationwide totaling roughly 130 billion dollars in potential investment have been impacted by political and regulatory friction in the first quarter of 2026.

The workforce constraint is now the binding execution constraint on both sides. BLS confirmed on August 26 that US construction employment reached 8.343 million in July 2026, up 22,000 month over month. That is a strong headline reading but it is not enough. ABC's continued projection is that the industry needs 349,000 net new construction workers in 2026 rising to 456,000 net new workers in 2027. AGC's 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook puts the 2026 gap at approximately 499,000 workers, up from 439,000 in 2025. The AGC 2025 Workforce Survey continues to show 92 percent of firms report difficulty filling positions, 88 percent of firms hiring craft workers report unfilled openings, 80 percent of firms hiring salaried workers report unfilled positions, and 45 percent of surveyed contractors report worker shortages as the leading cause of project delays.

Terrapin Consulting's April 2026 analysis confirmed commercial construction wages rose 5.8 percent year over year through the first quarter, with mid size project schedules extending 6 to 14 weeks against 2019 norms. Average construction wages reached 40.97 dollars per hour in April 2026. Deloitte's 2026 Engineering and Construction Industry Outlook projects a potential 2 million skilled craft shortage by 2028 if current trends persist, with 41 percent of the current workforce retiring by 2031 and only 10 percent under age 25. Randstad found demand for skilled trades in the US is growing 3 times faster than demand for professional roles, with demand for electricians up 18 percent, welders up 25 percent, and HVAC engineers up 67 percent over the past three years. PEAK Technical's Skilled Trades Workforce Outlook found the six hardest to fill roles are tool and die specialists (74 day average time to fill), automation and controls technicians (72 days), CNC machinists (68 days), field service technicians (66 days), industrial electricians (65 days), and maintenance mechanics (60 days).

The Bottom Line

This week was a compressed picture of the American industrial cycle at cruise altitude. Sempra Port Arthur LNG North at 27 million tons per year filed with FERC. Woodside Louisiana LNG confirmed 28 percent complete at 17.5 billion dollars with RWE writing a 900 million dollar equity check. Phillips 66, Kinder Morgan, and HF Sinclair sanctioned a 5 billion dollar 1,300 mile refined products pipeline. Phillips 66 committed to Zeus and to a third Coastal Bend fractionator. Enbridge signed on the TTC Connector into Freeport LNG. Prometheus and Istmo announced a 1.5 gigawatt behind the meter Reeves County campus running on pipeline gas and ethane. Skanska signed a 1.2 billion dollar four data center Southeast contract. Meta expanded Hyperion to 5 gigawatts. Amazon and Microsoft continued expanding hyperscale buildouts. And Kimmeridge, ConstructConnect, ABC, AGC, BLS, Deloitte, and Terrapin together painted a picture in which capital availability is not the constraint. The binding constraint is fabrication capacity, workforce depth, and the operating model to execute at the pace announced.

Owners and EPC contractors that used to distribute a project across fifteen or twenty subcontractors are consolidating scope with vertically integrated fabricators that can absorb structural steel, process modules, modular skids, field installation, shutdowns and turnarounds, and backlog relief inside a single execution model. That is not a marketing preference. It is a schedule and cost survival preference in an environment where 45 percent of contractors already report workforce shortages as the leading cause of project delays. PSV Industries is built as exactly that operating model for the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast.