US Delfin LNG Gets Export Approval
Delfin LNG project, jointly promoted by Indian and American firms, received US Department of Energy approval June 1 to export LNG to most countries.
The project can export 1.8bn ft3/d from Delfin’s proposed offshore Louisiana floating LNG terminal in the US Gulf of Mexico, the DOE said. The approval is to non-Free Trade Agreement countries (non-FTA) so covers most markets worldwide.
Development of the Delfin project offshore of Cameron Parish, Louisiana will include the construction of floating liquefaction and storage vessels.
Along with Australia, US is emerging as a major exporter of LNG. DOE has has now authorised a total of 21bn ft3/d of LNG export projects to non-FTA countries from planned facilities in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and now -- with Delfin -- the US Gulf offshore Louisiana.
The department determined that exports from the Delfin LNG terminal, jointly owned by the India and Singapore-based Fairwood Group and the US-based Peninsula group, for a period of 20 years, was not inconsistent with the public interest. Delfin expects to be operational in 2021-2022.
The DOE announcement was made while US energy secretary Rick Perry has been on a foreign trade mission to Japan, to be followed by China. His visit is awkwardly timed given President Donald Trump’s announcement June 1 that he will pull the US out of the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Shardul Sharma