Europe’s energy appetite keeps US as world’s top LNG exporter

More capacity coming

Venture Global LNG is constructing a second project in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, that will use modular liquefaction technology featuring 24 mid-scale trains, each with a peak capacity of 0.07 bcfd. Each liquefaction train is part of a two-unit block for a total of 12 blocks, with a combined peak capacity of 1.8 bcfd. Overall, when fully developed, Plaquemines LNG will have an export capacity of 20 mta.

When a positive FID was taken in May on the US$13.2Bn Plaquemines LNG project, Venture Global LNG chief executive Mike Sabel highlighted his company’s mid-scale liquefaction design model strategy, noting: “Plaquemines will build on the success of Calcasieu Pass, which broke global records for speed and execution.” The project took just 30 months from FID to construct and commission.

Each of the liquefaction modules are fabricated off-site, pre-tested and delivered fully assembled.

With about 11% of global liquefaction capacity, at 45 mta, the largest exporter in the US is Cheniere Energy. It is expanding further, reaching a positive FID on its Corpus Christi LNG Stage 3 (CCL Stage 3) in Q2 2022. Mid-scale liquefaction Trains 1-7 are under construction for CCL Stage 3, which will add 10 mta of liquefaction capacity by 2025. Combined with Sabine Pass LNG, Cheniere will have a total of 55 mta by 2025, and the company has pre-filed with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with Trains 8 and 9 for another 5 mta.

“Plaquemines will build on the success of Calcasieu Pass”

A third export project under construction, Golden Pass LNG, is a traditional ‘stick-built’ project being undertaken by a joint venture involving ExxonMobil and Qatar Energy at a brownfield site of an existing regasification facility in Sabine Pass, Texas. The US$10Bn project began construction in 2019, with first LNG expected in 2024.

Three standard-size liquefaction trains will each have peak LNG production capacity of up to 0.8 bcfd for a total of 2.4 bcfd, equating to a nameplate capacity of 18 mta. LNG will be stored in five existing 155,000 m³ tanks and two existing marine berths will accommodate Q-Max-size LNG carriers.

Once completed, the three export projects under construction will expand US LNG peak export capacity by a combined 5.7 Bcf/d by 2025.

US LNG imports

And while it reigns as the world’s largest LNG exporter, the US also imports LNG through the Northeast Gateway Deepwater Port and Everett, Massachusetts to meet New England’s natural gas needs. Constellation LNG and Excelerate Energy Gas Marketing imported a total of  17.6 bcf of LNG from January to July 2022 for New England. All of the LNG was imported from Trinidad and Tobago, according to US DOE data.

LNG cargoes were imported by NF Energia and Naturgy Aprovisionaminetos to terminals at San Juan and Ponce, Puerto Rico, from Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Oman, Nigeria and Spain.