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Federal regulators have cleared initial construction on the Black Bayou gas storage project in southwest Louisiana, allowing work to begin on facilities needed to build underground storage caverns. Developer Black Bayou Energy Hub LLC describes the project and related infrastructure as a planned $1.6 billion investment.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a limited notice to proceed on Oct. 20 under docket CP24-494-000. The authorization allows Black Bayou Gas Storage LLC, a subsidiary of Black Bayou Energy Hub, to construct certain facilities at the project’s 720-acre site in Cameron Parish, about 7 miles east of the Louisiana-Texas border.
Tuesday’s approval covers aboveground buildings, well pads and leaching plants used to carve storage space in the subterranean salt dome. It also permits construction of a high-capacity compressor station and 18 freshwater and saltwater disposal wells needed to create the caverns.
Lafayette-based Black Bayou Energy Hub expects commercial gas storage to begin in two salt caverns in 2028. Construction of all four planned caverns is expected to continue through 2030.
The construction authorization is separate from a capacity amendment that the company says FERC approved, increasing the project’s working gas capacity from 34.7 billion to 44.4 billion cubic feet.
According to the developer’s federal regulatory filing, the storage hub will connect directly to 10 major interstate natural gas pipelines. Those pipelines serve utilities across the eastern half of the country, industrial manufacturers and 10 liquefied natural gas export plants operating or under construction within a 25-mile radius.
The company says current and planned LNG facilities within 25 miles account for more than 30 billion cubic feet per day of gas demand. Energy-intensive industrial projects and growing power generation at regional utilities also compete for supply.
The hub is designed to take up to 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the interstate pipeline network for storage when supplies are plentiful. During extreme weather, it could deliver up to 2 billion cubic feet per day back to the regional market, a capability the developer says could help moderate price spikes.
Global energy trader Mercuria backs the project.
"Receiving FERC certification is a key inflection point for the Black Bayou Energy Hub", said Boris Bystrov, managing director of investments at Mercuria, in an Oct. 1, 2025, statement about the earlier certificate approval. "Strategic infrastructure projects like this are essential to our broader mission of enhancing market efficiency and supporting the energy transition. We are proud to back the development of this highly flexible and commercially significant asset in the heart of the U.S. Gulf Coast."
In a Sept. 10, 2026, announcement, Louisiana Economic Development said the state offered $1 million for infrastructure improvements and workforce assistance. The agency also said the company is expected to participate in the state’s High Impact Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs, though it did not specify the value of those anticipated benefits.
LED estimates that the project will create 23 direct jobs and 35 indirect jobs across southwest Louisiana and Acadiana. Peak construction is expected to support more than 1,000 temporary jobs.
"More than $48 billion in LNG projects have been announced in Louisiana since 2024, and investment at that scale creates demand for the infrastructure and businesses needed to support it", Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan B. Bourgeois said in the Sept. 10 announcement. "Black Bayou Energy Hub is a direct result of that momentum and an investment in sustaining it. This project strengthens the natural gas infrastructure that will serve major projects already underway while increasing Louisiana’s capacity to compete for what comes next."
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