New York: Morgan Stanley plans natural gas export

Morgan Stanley has quietly filed plans to build and run one of the first US compressed natural gas export facilities, the first sign the bank is plunging back into physical commodity markets even as it sells its physical oil business. In a 23-page application to the US Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy submitted in May, the Wall Street bank outlined a proposal to build, own and operate a compression and container loading facility near Freeport, Texas, which will have capacity to ship 60 billion cubic feet a year of compressed natural gas (CNG). While the size of the project is small compared with bigger liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, the plan highlights the bank's ability to exploit its status as one of two Wall Street banks which are allowed to own and operate infrastructure for the manufacture, storage and operation of raw materials. The other one is Goldman Sachs. Their physical commodities activities were both ‘grandfathered’ in when they became bank holding companies during the financial crisis more than five years ago, according to Reuters.