Cameron LNG has asked energy regulators in the US for a 72-month extension (until May 2026) to build the second phase of the joint venture’s Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Louisiana.
All the trains at Cameron are designed to export about 5.0 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), or 0.66 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), according to a filing with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
In the filing, Cameron said it anticipates making a final investment decision (FID) by mid-2021 to add two additional liquefaction trains. It said construction of the new trains would probably take up to 58 months.
Cameron said the first phase of the project cost about £7.7 billion – one train is already operating at the plant and the company has said it expects trains 2 and 3 to enter commercial service in the first and third quarters of 2020, respectively.
US LNG export capacity is expected to jump to 10.0 bcfd by the end of 2020 and 10.7 bcfd in 2021 from 7.8 bcfd now, if all terminals under construction are completed. This would make the US the biggest LNG exporter in the world by 2024, (up from number three in 2019 behind Australia and Qatar).
FERC approved construction of Cameron 4 and 5 in May 2016 in an order that required Cameron LNG to put the units in service within four years by May 2020.
Cameron is owned by affiliates of Sempra Energy, Total, Mitsui & Co Ltd and Japan LNG Investment LLC, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corp and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK). Sempra indirectly owns 50.2 per cent of Cameron.
McDermott International Inc and Chiyoda Corp are the lead contractors at Cameron.
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