American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2017 - 33

SpecialReport: Natural Gas Markets
tracted under long-term agreements with
Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., JERA Energy America LLC, BP Energy Company, Toshiba
Corp. and SK E&S LNG LLC.
In June, Freeport LNG announced that
it had filed an application with the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission for authorization to construct a fourth liquefaction
train at the terminal. It also announced
that it was commencing the front-end engineering and design work for the fourth
train, with construction planned to commence by the end of 2018 and operations
tentatively scheduled to start in 2022. The
5.1-mtpa fourth train would increase total
daily capacity to 2.8 Bcf.
"With the initiation of formal FERC
review and commencement of FEED
work, Freeport LNG is moving forward
with the final stages of train four development," says Michael Smith, chairman
and chief executive officer of Freeport
LNG. "Following closely on the heels of
our successful development of the initial
three trains of the Freeport liquefaction
project, train four will position Freeport
LNG to supply the next wave of U.S.
Gulf Coast LNG."
Although on a smaller scale, the initial
liquefaction units at Kinder Morgan's
Elba Island project near Savannah, Ga.,
are expected to be placed in service in
mid-2018, with the final units coming on
line by early 2019. The project is expected
to have a total annual capacity of 2.5
mtpa (355 million cubic feet a day).
According to Kinder Morgan, the Elba
Island liquefaction and export project is
supported by a 20-year contract with Shell,
and will feature Shell's proprietary moveable modular liquefaction system (MMLS).
When completed, the facility will have 10
integrated MMLS units, each of which
has a capacity rating of 0.25 mtpa.

"By the end of 2017, trains one through
four at Sabine Pass are expected to be
fully operational, and Cove Point is expected to come on line. Cameron LNG
train one is scheduled to come on line in
July 2018, followed by train two in November. Freeport LNG also is scheduled
to come on line in November 2018," an
EIA report states.
Three more projects have received
final FERC approvals, but are not yet
under construction: the ExxonMobil/Qatar
Petroleum International 16 mtpa Golden
Pass facility at Sabine Pass, Tx., the
Energy Transfer Partners/Shell Southern
Union 16 mtpa facility and LNG Limited's
8 mtpa Magnolia terminal, both at Lake
Charles, La. Together, these three second-wave projects would increase demand
by another 5.3 Bcf/d.
In late September, Veresen Inc. announced that it had refiled applications
with FERC for the 7.8 mtpa Jordan Cove
export terminal in Coos Bay, Or., and the
associated Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline
to transport natural gas to the terminal
from the Malin Hub in southern Oregon.
Jordan Cove and Pacific Connector
are requesting that FERC issue a draft
environmental impact statement in 2018,
leading to FERC decisions on the $10
billion project by the end of 2018. That

would position the project for a final investment decision in 2019 and an in-service date in 2024, according to Don Althoff, president and chief executive officer
of Veresen.
"Completing the pre-filing phase and
submitting the formal applications to
FERC is a major milestone for the projects," Althoff states. "Our significant
efforts to optimize the design to minimize
its environmental footprint and accommodate landowner requests, as well as
the support of our world-class LNG
buyers, should result in the receipt of the
positive regulatory decisions required to
build Jordan Cove."
A number of other proposed LNG export projects are in various stages of permitting. In Louisiana alone, for example,
pending applications and publicly reported
prefilings include:
* Venture Global's 20 mtpa Plaquemines Parish and 10 mtpa Calcasieu Pass
projects (on Sept. 27, Venture Global announced that it had entered in a 20-year
sales and purchase agreement with Edison
for 1 mtpa from Calcasieu Pass, which has
an expected operational date of in 2021);
* Tellurian Inc.'s 26 mtpa Driftwood
project in Calcasieu Parish;
* The 14 mtpa G2 facility in Cameron
Parish; and

Net Gas Exporter
In aggregate, the "first wave" of U.S.
LNG export terminals coming on line
during the next couple years is expected
to have a total operational capacity of
9.5 Bcf/d. The U.S. Energy Information
Administration forecasts that average
U.S. LNG exports will jump from 1.9
Bcf/d in 2017 to 4.6 Bcf/d by December
2018, and progressively climb thereafter
as facilities ramp toward full capacity.

In June, Freeport LNG filed an application with the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission for authorization to construct a fourth
liquefaction train at its terminal
near Freeport, Tx. The first three
trains-with a combined send-out
capacity of 15 mtpa-are scheduled to begin startup in late 2018.

OCTOBER 2017 33
American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2017
