Venture Global LNG seeks approval to speed up plant construction
HOUSTON, June 30 (Reuters) — LNG developer Venture Global LNG on Friday asked U.S. regulators for expedited review of a request to add construction workers to its Plaquemines LNG export project and to allow work around the clock seven days per week.
The company wants to increase staffing to 6,000 workers, from 4,700 originally approved, and speed up construction after weather delays last year, it said in a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The company originally sought to go to a 24-hour schedule last October. It asked FERC commissioners to approve the increase at their July 27 meeting.
Plaquemines LNG hopes to begin exports from the Gulf Coast facility’s first phase late next year and to complete construction of the plant’s second phase by the end of 2026, the company said in its filing.
The $21 billion Plaquemines project is one of the largest project financings for an LNG terminal. At full capacity, the plant would produce about 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG.
Plaquemines LNG phase two customers include Exxon Mobil , Chevron, EnBW Energie Baden Wuerttemberg , New Fortress Energy, Petronas, China Gas Holdings and Excelerate Energy.
Venture Global has plans for about 70 MTPA of LNG export capacity in Louisiana. Its first project, the 10-MTPA Calcasieu Pass LNG plant, began exports last year. (Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Related Knowledge Center: Liquefied natural gas
Driven by plentiful natural gas produced from shale plays, the United States began exporting liquefied natural gas in 2016 when the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana opened and shipped its first cargo. Since then, additional capacity, or trains, have been added to Sabine Pass, and terminals have become operational in Cameron Parish, La.; Hackberry, La.; Cove Point, Md.; and Corpus Christi, Texas. The Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. LNG export capacity will reach 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by the end of 2019, making it the third largest in the world, behind Australia and Qatar. The tariff war with China has the potential to impact some final investment decisions for additional terminals in the coming months.