Cameron LNG to scale back expansion plan

Cameron LNG, a three-train, 14mn metric tons/year liquefaction and export terminal in Louisiana, filed a request with US federal regulators January 18 to scale back a planned 10mn mt/yr expansion of the brownfield facility.

The application, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), asks for authorisation to drop one 5mn mt/yr train from an original two-train expansion plan approved in 2016, increase the capacity of the remaining train to 6.75mn mt/yr, replace gas-powered refrigerant compressors with electric drive motors and add capacity to capture and sequester acid gas emissions from Train 4. A 160,000-m³ storage tank would also be dropped from the expansion plan.

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“Cameron LNG is voluntarily proposing to replace its primary gas-driven turbines with an E-Drive technology that utilises power sourced from the local utility,” it said in the FERC filing. It would become only the second North American liquefaction facility, after Freeport LNG in Texas, to adopt e-drive compression technology.

Using electricity to drive the compressors, Cameron LNG said, would reduce on-site Train 4 emissions by 44%, to about 1.03mn metric tons/year of CO₂-equivalent (CO₂-e) from 1.84mn mt/yr of CO₂-e.

“Incorporating offsite emissions from purchased power, Cameron LNG expects to achieve an overall CO₂-e emissions reduction of approximately 13% for Train 4 as compared to the original Train 4 facilities approved by the commission,” it added.

The potential for adding CCS capacity, Cameron LNG said, would depend on the development of future CCS infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, and on its ability – logistically and economically – to access that infrastructure.

The modified expansion plan carries a $2.2bn price tag. Lead partner Sempra Infrastructure expects a final investment decision by the end of this year; pending commission approval by March 2023, the expansion could be in service by Q3 2027.