US company starts development of 22.5-mta LNG export plant

Coastal Bend LNG has initiated development of a 22.5-mta natural gas liquefaction and export facility on the Texas Gulf Coast. 

The company said it expects to prefile its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) permits during 2025.
Coastal Bend LNG is privately held, and has been linked in public records to Kyomera Ventures, a Texas-based energy infrastructure development firm and Amirian Group, a New York City-based real estate development business.

The company said its planned development will include up to five 4.5-mta liquefaction trains, cogeneration, LNG storage tanks, and export facilities for shipping, bunkering and ISO containers.

Carbon capture, transport and storage will be integrated into Coastal Bend LNG’s facilities to lower the carbon intensity of the plant, which will process natural gas sourced from US onshore basins.

“We are responding to growing global demand for low carbon intensity LNG,” Coastal Bend LNG chief executive Nick Flores said. “The integration of carbon capture on both our liquefaction and cogeneration facilities will deliver low carbon intensity LNG while monetising both 45Q tax credits and our low-carbon products.”

Mr Flores began his tenure at Coastal Bend LNG shortly before the company announced its plans, according to his profile on business social media platform LinkedIn. Mr Flores is simultaneously listed as the chief executive of energy infrastructure development firm Kyomera Ventures, having held the role since April 2023. 

In January 2023, minutes from an Ingleside, Texas, planning and zoning commission meeting showed that Mr Flores outlined a few details about the project.

"Mr Flores introduced himself as a representative of Coastal Bend LNG and was born and raised in the area. Coastal Bend LNG formed in early 2022 by Kyomera Ventures and Amirian Group. They are proposing to build a micro LNG facility on the northwest side of the property that will make up about 7 acres with the tallest point being 50 ft for the flare stack. The proposed plant location will be over 6 football fields away from Ingleside High School. The facility will produce LNG, move it into ISO containers tanks, place it on ships, and ship it domestically and internationally. ISO containers are a means of moving LNG on a smaller scale and hold 776.8 mmbtu," the record of the meeting said.

In September 2024, the US Energy Information Administration forecast North America’s liquefied natural gas export capacity would more than double by 2028, reinforcing the region’s critical role in global energy markets.

The export capacity of 11.4Bn cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) listed in the forecast, which equates to approximately 85M tonnes per annum (mta), was projected to reach 24.3 Bcf/d, or roughly 181 mta over the next few years. This growth is fuelled by expansions at existing terminals, new projects and increasing global demand for North American LNG, particularly in Europe and Asia.