US liquefied natural gas (LNG) export company Freeport LNG Development has received regulatory approval to commence commercial operations of the company’s natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Texas, USA.
According to Freeport LNG, the authorisation provides for the immediate full return to service of one liquefaction train, that has already restarted, and the incremental restart and full return to service of a second train. The restart and return to service of the third liquefaction train will require subsequent regulatory approval once certain operational conditions are met.
The company said that a conservative ramp-up profile to establish three-train production of approximately 2.0 billion cubic feet per day is anticipated to occur over the next several weeks as stable operation of each incremental train is established and maintained.
Operations are initially utilising two of Freeport LNG’s three LNG storage tanks and one of its two LNG berths. The second LNG berth and third LNG storage tank are expected to return to service in May 2023, Freeport LNG noted.
The First LNG production and ship loading from the facility began on 11 February 2023.
Michael Smith, Freeport LNG Founder, Chairman and CEO, stated: “Returning to liquefaction operations is a significant achievement for Freeport LNG. Over the past eight months, we have implemented enhancements to our processes, procedures and training to ensure safe and reliable operations, and significantly increased staffing levels with extensive LNG and petrochemical operating experience to reduce overtime, enhance operational excellence, and improve quality assurance and business performance.”
“Eight months of diligence, discipline and dedicated efforts by our teams, working collaboratively alongside the regulatory agencies and local officials, have positioned us to resume LNG production and commence ramp-up to the safe establishment of commercial operations of our liquefaction facility.”
To remind, the facility has been shut down following the explosion incident that occurred in June 2022. At first, the restart of initial operations was targeted for early October 2022, but was then delayed several times.