US LNG export terminal developer, Freeport LNG has won an approval from the Department of Energy (DOE) for short-term exports from its facility currently being built in Texas.
The US DOE said in a statement it had issued an order on September 6 granting the Freeport LNG project to export up to 2.14 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas as LNG over a two-year period to both free-trade and non-free trade agreement countries.
This order authorizes Freeport’s initial commissioning volumes and other exports pursuant to short-term contracts, the statement said.
During this two year authorization period, Freeport LNG will be authorized to export LNG to any country not prohibited by U.S. law or policy.
The two-year export term will become effective on the date of the commencement of the facility’s first export of LNG, currently projected to be in the third quarter of 2019, it said.
The short-term authorization issued to Freeport LNG is not additive to any of the prior long-term export authorizations DOE has issued to the Freeport LNG project.
Rather, the recent short-term order issued to Freeport LNG allows for additional flexibilities to export LNG pursuant to short-term contracts and for the initial commissioning volumes from the project, the statement said.
Freeport will also still be able to export LNG pursuant to its long-term authorizations from DOE.
To remind, Freeport LNG’s first three trains are expected to enter service between September 1, 2019, and May 1, 2020, after being delayed earlier this year due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey that saw equipment lay-yards flooded.
Each of the three liquefaction trains are expected to have a capacity in excess of 5 million tonnes per year. The fourth liquefaction train will have a similar nominal production.