U.S. LNG export capacity set to expand further

After steady stream of new projects over the last few years, LNG producers have made the U.S. the world’s largest exporter of LNG earlier this year. With three new projects under construction and a fourth under consideration, that production capacity is expected to expand even further in the coming months and years, according to a recent report.

A report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration noted that LNG exports from the continental U.S. began in February 2016 and have grown steadily since then. The Calcasieu Pass LNG is the seventh and latest project has placed all of its liquefaction trains into service as of August, ahead of schedule.

U.S. LNG producers exported an average of 11.1 Bcf/d in the first half of 2022, a record and the world’s largest. In addition to the Golden Pass LNG, which started construction in 2019, two additional projects in the Gulf Coast region have started construction.

Golden Pass LNG will have three standard-sized LNG trains, each with a baseload capacity of about 0.7 Bcf/d and a peak capacity of about 0.8 Bcf/d.Golden Pass LNG is under construction at the site of an existing regasification facility and will use some of the existing infrastructure to reduce costs and shorten the construction timetable.

The Plaquemines LNG facility will have 24 mid-scale trains, each with a baseload capacity of 0.07 Bcf/d. The plant will have a combined capacity of 1.6 Bcf/d. The Corpus Christi Stage II project is under development at the site of an existing terminal with three liquefaction trains already in operations. The new addition will have a baseload capacity of 1.3 Bcf/d.

Once complete, the three new exports project currently under construction will expand LNG peak export capacity by a combined 4.9 Bcf/d, the EIA reported.

In April, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal authorization to commission the first six of nine liquefaction blocks, each of which have two trains. Calcasieu Pass is a 1.3 Bcf/d liquefaction facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Calcasieu Pass is the seventh U.S. LNG liquefaction export facility to begin producing LNG since 2016.

In addition to 18 mid-scale liquefaction trains, the Calcasieu Pass facility includes an onsite natural gas-fired plant to generate electricity for the facility’s operations, three pre-treatment trains, two LNG storage tanks (with a capacity of 4.4 Bcf each), and two shipping berths capable of loading LNG vessels with carrying capacities of up to 185,000 cubic meters (4 Bcf).

The Calcasieu Pass terminal receives its feedgas through Venture Global’s 24-mile, 42-inch diameter TransCameron Pipeline, which has interconnections with the ANR, TETCO, and Bridgeline pipelines.

On March 1, Calcasieu Pass loaded and shipped its first LNG cargo, aboard the tanker Yiannis, chartered by JERA Global Markets, which delivered the LNG to ports in the Netherlands and France.

In addition to the three new plants under consideration, investors are at different stages of considering new plants. Last month, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) signed a 20-year agreement to sell 2.1 million tons per year (mtpa) of LNG to Shell from its Lake Charles LNG project.

Under terms of the agreement between the two companies, Energy Transfer will supply the LNG on a free-on-board (FOB) basis with a purchase price indexed to the benchmark Henry Hub price plus a fixed liquefaction charge. The first deliveries are expected to start as early as 2026.

The agreement will become fully effective after a series of conditions are met, one of which is that Energy Transfer will make a final investment decision on the project.