American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2019 - 61

SpecialReport: Unconventional Resource Science

LNG Exports Ramping Up Gas Demand
By Sheetal Nasta
HOUSTON-After a decade of waiting
on the build-out of export facilities, U.S.
natural gas producers are at last seeing
liquefied natural gas swing into full gear.
The slate of liquefaction and export capacity additions this year will boost U.S.
demand for feed gas supply to nearly 9
billion cubic feet a day by the end of the
year, almost tripling the full-year 2018
average of 3.1 Bcf/d and roughly doubling
the December 2018 average of 4.6 Bcf/d.
The waiting may be the hardest part,
as the late Tom Petty said, but it is hardly
the only part. The dramatic rise in demand
for LNG exports will impact all segments
of the supply chain, and undoubtedly be
one of the biggest factors in the U.S.
natural gas market in 2019. The sudden
addition of billions of cubic feet a day of
demand is certainly welcome news for
producers, but it also has major ramifications
on the maze of midstream and transportation
infrastructure linking the new LNG terminals with gas producing basins-whether
in West Texas or western Pennsylvania.
The epicenter of the new demand for
LNG export feed gas is along the Texas
and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Three liquefaction trains-one each at Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass terminal in Cameron
Parish, La., and Corpus Christi facility
in San Patricio County, Tx., as well as
one at the Cameron LNG terminal near
Hackberry, La.-are likely to be fully operational in the first quarter, with five additional trains due in rapid progression
later in 2019.
After somewhat of a lull in U.S. LNG
export growth through the first three quarters of 2018, total feed gas deliveries at
export terminals climbed 1.3 Bcf/d, or
40 percent, in the last three months of
2018. The big jump in demand came as
LNG operators began commissioning
three new liquefaction trains, including
the initial trains at the new Corpus Christi
and Cameron export terminals. As shown
in Figure 1, demand revved up in October
2018, climbing from just above 3 Bcf/d
through September, to well over 4 Bcf/d
by November, and ending 2018 at record
highs above 5 Bcf/d.
In recent weeks, that has declined to
near 4 Bcf/d, as deliveries at Corpus
Christi, which is still testing its systems
for Train 1, dropped back to near zero

starting in mid-January. But as Corpus
Christi progresses toward completion,
feed gas deliveries can be expected to
again top 5 Bcf/d.
Catapulting Demand
And that is merely the beginning.
Train 5 at Sabine Pass and trains 1 and 2
at Corpus Christi are only three of several
new liquefaction trains scheduled to be
commercialized this year to catapult U.S.
gas demand for LNG exports. That includes three new trains at Cameron LNG,
the first of three trains at the Freeport
LNG facility near Freeport, Tx., as well
as the 10 "miniliquefaction trains" being
developed at Elba Island in Georgia.
Cheniere's Sabine Pass plant on the
Texas-Louisiana border was the first of
four brownfield projects targeting gas exports from the U.S. Its initial export cargo
left the Gulf Coast in February 2016,
making it the first LNG export cargo
from the lower-48 in 57 years (the only
previous LNG shipment had been in 1959
aboard the world's first experimental
oceangoing LNG tanker, the Methane
Pioneer, which had transported a tiny,
one-off cargo from Lake Charles, La., to
the United Kingdom).
The initial final investment decision
(FID) on Sabine Pass included five, 4.5-

million metric tons per year (MMtpa)
trains, each with the capacity to supercool
up to 650 million cubic feet a day of
natural gas into LNG at -260 degrees
Fahrenheit for a total capacity to liquefy
about 3 Bcf/d for loading and shipment
overseas (the facility also has 17 Bcf of
onsite LNG storage capacity.) Since that
first cargo, Sabine Pass has brought on
line three more trains, and is in the process
of ramping up Train 5, which is due to
be operational this quarter. Cheniere also
is developing a sixth train, but has yet to
reach an FID.
Overall, Sabine Pass took an average
of 2.8 Bcf/d in 2018, but by October,
feed gas deliveries to the facility topped
3.5 Bcf/d as Train 5 ramped up and produced its first LNG. For now, feed gas
intake for Train 5 remains erratic, as is
typical during the commissioning process.
But Cheniere expects to bring it on line
this quarter, and if the first four trains are
any indication, Train 5 will be taking a
consistent 650 MMcf/d or so once it officially starts.
Cove Point And Corpus Christi
The next two LNG export terminals
out of the gate are Dominion's Cove
Point and Cheniere's Corpus Christi projects. Cove Point in Maryland is the lone

FIGURE 1
U.S. LNG Feed Gas Deliveries by Terminal

Source for ﬁgures: RBN Energy LNG Voyager Weekly

FEBRUARY 2019 61

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