Elba Island LNG Won't Start in 2018

Start-up of the Elba Island LNG export venture in the US has been delayed once again.

Its developer, US pipeline and midstream company Kinder Morgan, said October 18 said the first of its 10 liquefaction units is now expected to start up 1Q2019. Three months ago it had said the first would start up in 4Q2018, which even then represented a three-month delay for the $2bn project near Savannah, Georgia.

The 10-unit project will have 2.5mn mt/yr liquefaction capacity, equivalent to 350mn ft³/d. Kinder Morgan insisted that all 10 units are expected to come online during 2019. Elba Liquefaction Company is 51%-owned by Kinder Morgan and 49% by EIG Global Energy Partners.

Other facilities associated with the project are 100%-owned by Kinder Morgan, which said that construction is continuing as planned on its Elba Express Modification Project, adding upstream compression facilities on the Elba Express pipeline to provide feed gas for liquefaction: phase II of this project entered service September 10 with the rest due to follow in November 2018.

Kinder Morgan reported 3Q2018 net income of $693mn, more than double its 3Q2017 income of $334mn. CEO Steve Kean said it had been a busy 3Q: “We closed the Trans Mountain transaction [a Canadian asset sale, for net proceeds to KM of US$2bn] August 31 and then made a final investment decision on the Permian Highway Pipeline Project less than a week later.”