Three US-based LNG terminal projects report delays to operational start dates

Three US-based LNG terminal projects report delays to operational start dates

Three US-based LNG export projects have delayed the planned start of their commercial operations, according to company updates on the US Department of Energy’s website.

LNG terminal developers must provide semi-annual progress reports for their facilities in April and October, as required by the department. Some projects have not yet posted April reports.

April updates published on the department’s website report later start dates for three projects: the Lake Charles Exports terminal in Louisiana, with a capacity of 16.2 million mt/year; Commonwealth LNG’s Cameron Parish, Louisiana, facility, with planned exports of 169 MMcf/d and 190 MMcf/d to free trade and non-free trade nations, respectively; and Strom’s Crystal River, Florida, facility, with export capacity of 80 MMcf/d.

Lake Charles now anticipates that the first of its three trains will be operational in 2022.

Trains 2 and 3 are scheduled for completion in six-month increments after the first train, the April report stated. Last October, the company said only that the first train was expected to be operational in 2021.

Commonwealth LNG expects to start commercial operations by the second quarter of 2022, the company said. In October 2016, it set a start date of the fourth quarter of 2021.

Strom said it was proposing to start operations in the second quarter of 2019, providing market conditions remain stable.

Previously, it reported a start date in the fourth quarter of 2018. Earlier this week, six other projects reported delayed operational start dates: SCT&E LNG’s export terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana; SeaOne Gulfport’s CGL terminal at Gulfport, Mississippi; Texas LNG Brownsville’s terminal in Brownsville, Texas; Gulf LNG Liquefaction’s terminal at Pascagoula, Mississippi; Freeport-McMoRan’s Main Pass Energy Hub Deepwater facility off the Louisiana coast; and the Venture Global Calcasieu Pass export project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

LNG terminals must obtain numerous regulatory approvals before they can begin operations and progress is often held up by regulatory or commercial issues.

https://www.platts.com/latest-news/natural-gas/austin-texas/three-us-based-lng-terminal-projects-report-delays-21395844