US Cove Point Starts LNG Exports

Dominion Energy said April 10 its 5.25mn metric tons/year (mt/yr) Cove Point LNG export terminal in Lusby, Maryland has entered commercial service, a little less than four years after it won regulatory approval in September 2014.

After completing a planned maintenance outage in late March, Cove Point has been ramping up to full production of LNG from natural gas provided by its export customers, ST Cove Point (a joint venture of Japan’s Sumitomo and Tokyo Gas) and Gail Global (USA) LNG, the American affiliate of GAIL (India). The two customers have contracted for the full output of Cove Point under 20-year take-or-pay contracts.

Exports of commissioning volumes took place in early March, using gas provided by Anglo-Dutch major Shell.

Located on the shores of Chesapeake Bay at the Dominion Energy Cove Point import terminal, which was commissioned in 1978, the Cove Point LNG liquefaction and export terminal is designed to process 750mn ft³/day of natural gas from a single liquefaction train. It will use the import terminal’s seven existing storage tanks, which have a total capacity of 14.6bn ft³.