US Tellurian Wins FTA Export Approval

US start-up Tellurian has secured approval from the US Department of Energy to export LNG to free-trade agreement (FTA) nations from its proposed 26mn metric tons/yr Driftwood LNG project, it said March 2.

Tellurian has also submitted an application to export LNG to non-FTA nations and expects to file its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission application by the end of this month. 

Driftwood LNG will be built near Lake Charles, Louisiana in the US Gulf Coast, with work expected to begin at the end of 2018 and deliver first LNG in 2022, with full operations in 2025.

Tellurian is entering a busy market as there is a lot more US LNG export capacity due to come on stream, including two others at Lake Charles and more in Texas, over the coming few years. But 2025 is generally seen as the end of any LNG oversupply as demand grows and significant LNG supply contracts begin to expire.

(Credit: Tellurian)

Tellurian was set up in February 2016 by Martin Houston (pictured, above left) and Charif Souki (right). Souki was forced out of Cheniere a year ago and he joined Houston, formerly BG's LNG business manager who designed the risky merchant LNG model when most of the rest of the world was working on long-term contracts linking producers to consumers. A number of key executives have also joined Tellurian from Cheniere.

William Powell