Cameron LNG Train 1 Takes First Gas

US Sempra has begun testing its Cameron LNG project in Hackberry, Louisiana, by injecting gas into the first liquefaction train, it said April 15. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved this on April 5, and it is the final commissioning step before LNG production begins in earnest “this quarter,” Sempra said. It is now “one step closer to reaching its goal of building up to 45mn metric tons/yr of LNG export capacity to serve global markets."

Phase 1 of the Cameron LNG export project, which includes the first three liquefaction trains of 4mn mt/yr each, is a $10bn facility with a projected export of 12mn mt/yr, it said. Its website though says the three-train project "has an authorised annual export capacity of 14.95mn mt/yr." Expansion is possible, with another two trains adding a total 9.97mn mt/yr.

Cameron LNG Phase 1 is jointly owned by affiliates of Sempra LNG, French Total, Mitsui & Co and Japan LNG Investment, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corporation and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, representing LNG trade and shipping capability. Sempra Energy indirectly owns 50.2% of Cameron LNG.

Sempra Energy's share of full run-rate earnings from the first three trains at Cameron LNG are projected to be between $400mn and $450mn/yr. Global gas markets are low at present, with the legendary Asian thirst for LNG satisfied and spot prices for delivery in Asia dipping below the already depressed northwest European spot prices.

The three trains are being built by McDermott and Chiyoda, who happen to be competing in separate joint ventures for Qatar Petroleum’s LNG expansion mega-trains project.

Since the initial award in 2014, McDermott and Chiyoda have provided the engineering, procurement and construction for the Cameron LNG project.