US LNG exports received a boost during a signing ceremony in New York after South Korea’s Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas) agreed to purchase 1.58M tonnes of LNG per year from the US from 2025
Under the agreement, oil major BP will supply the LNG from either Freeport LNG on Quintana Island near Freeport, Texas or Calcasieu Pass LNG in Cameron Parish, Louisiana for up to 18 years. The ceremony was attended by South Korea trade, industry and energy minister Sung Yun-mo.
With expected commercial operations starting in 2022, Calcasieu Pass LNG has 20-year LNG sale and purchase agreements with BP, Edison SpA, Galp, Repsol, Shell and PGNiG. Being developed by a subsidiary of Venture Global LNG, Calcasieu Pass LNG will have two ship berths to accommodate LNG carriers up to 185,000 m3 capacity and two LNG storage tanks each with a capacity of 200,000 m3. Based on mid-scale liquefaction technology, Calcasieu Pass LNG will have nine liquefaction blocks, each consisting of two electrically driven 0.626 mta trains. Nameplate capacity for the facility will be 11.26 mta of LNG.
With its first commissioning cargo from Train 1 lifted on LNG Jurojin on 3 September, Freeport LNG plans to pre-commission its Train 2 for an in-service date of January 2020. Construction is nearing completion on Train 3, with a projected in-service date of May 2020. Freeport LNG has also raised US$1.025Bn to finance the development of Train 4. Once all four trains are in service, Freeport LNG will have a nominal capacity of 20 mta.
Last year, South Korea was the top importer of US LNG with 4.57M tonnes and its third largest LNG supplier behind Qatar (14.15M tonnes) and Australia (7.90M tonnes), according to the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL).
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