Summit Midstream Corporation has reached a final investment decision to expand its Double E natural gas pipeline in the Permian Basin, adding roughly 900 million cubic feet per day of capacity as producers in the Delaware Basin continue to outrun existing takeaway infrastructure.
The expansion centers on a new bi-directional mainline compressor station that will lift Double E's forward-haul capacity to the Waha Hub. Summit has already locked in 550 MMcf/d of binding, take-or-pay commitments from shippers during an open season, including a new long-term agreement for 200 MMcf/d with an investment-grade counterparty, leaving roughly 450 MMcf/d still to be contracted before the project reaches full subscription. Once complete, total contracted firm capacity on the pipeline will rise to approximately 2.2 billion cubic feet per day.
Summit, which owns 70% of Double E alongside a 30% stake held by an ExxonMobil subsidiary, expects to invest about $100 million net to its share of the roughly 135-mile pipeline, which has moved gas from the Delaware Basin to the Waha Hub since entering service in November 2021. The company is financing the work through a term facility tied to its Summit Permian Transmission subsidiary — a $50 million delayed-draw facility established when the vehicle closed in March, now paired with a newly converted $50 million accordion, for $100 million in total committed capacity maturing in March 2031. The debt is non-recourse to the parent company.
Racing Ahead of Permian Gas Growth
The expansion reflects a persistent bottleneck in the Permian Basin, where gas produced alongside oil — associated gas — has periodically outpaced the region's pipeline capacity, pressuring prices at the Waha hub and at times pushing them negative. Compression units for the project have already been ordered to keep the expansion on track for an in-service date in the fourth quarter of 2028, though the work remains subject to approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"Today's announcement is a significant milestone for Summit and Double E and further demonstrates the importance of the pipeline to producers and processors in the Delaware Basin," Heath Deneke, Summit's president, chief executive and chairman, said in announcing the decision.
Summit has told investors it expects the Permian segment's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to grow from roughly $37 million in 2026 to more than $100 million by 2030 once the expansion is fully subscribed. The company's next task is filling the remaining 450 MMcf/d of uncontracted capacity, a process that will determine how quickly the pipeline's economics — and Summit's return on its $100 million investment — materialize.