US Cameron LNG Ships Commissioning Cargo
Sempra LNG shipped its first commissioning cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the first liquefaction train of the export project in Hackberry, Louisiana, it said May 31.
"This achievement brings Cameron LNG, one of Sempra's five strategically located LNG infrastructure projects, one step closer to commercial operations," said the CEO of Sempra North American Infrastructure Carlos Ruiz Sacristan. "Seeing the first tanker depart loaded with US LNG produced at this world-class facility is significant for our company," he said.
Commercial operations from the facility will begin after Cameron LNG receives authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc), which is expected in mid-2019.
Phase 1 of the Cameron LNG export project includes the first three liquefaction trains that will enable the export of about 12mn metric tons/yr of LNG.
Cameron LNG is jointly owned by affiliates of Sempra LNG, French Total, Japan's Mitsui & Co and Japan LNG Investment, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corporation and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK). Sempra Energy indirectly owns 50.2% of Cameron LNG.
Sempra Energy's other projects are Cameron LNG Phase 2, previously authorised by Ferc and which encompasses up to two additional liquefaction trains and up to two additional LNG storage tanks; Port Arthur LNG in Texas, which recently was approved by Ferc; and Energía Costa Azul LNG Phase 1 and Phase 2 in Mexico.
Development of Sempra Energy's LNG export projects is contingent upon obtaining binding customer commitments, completing the required commercial agreements, securing all necessary permits, obtaining financing and other factors before taking final investment decisions, it said.
Speaking at the May 14 opening ceremony at the plant, which he said had been built "amidst peaceful marsh and swampland," the European commissioner for energy Maros Sefcovic said that he was "convinced that this is just the beginning and that the US will soon further expand its export capacities to over 120bn m³. If the US were to abolish its export licensing regime towards the EU, this would even accelerate the existing dynamic. I can assure you that by then, on our side, we Europeans will have completed our infrastructure."
He had been living in Slovakia at the time of the Ukraine-Russia gas wars in 2009 when exports through Ukraine ceased in the depths of winter, demonstrating central Europe's vulnerability to Ukrainian politics; or Gazprom's unreliability as supplier.