US Approves Four Texas LNG Exports

The US Department of Energy (DoE) approved on February 10 four applications to make LNG exports to countries without free-trade agreements (non-FTA) with the US.

The authorisations went to Annova LNG, Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG, all planned for the Brownsville Ship Channel in south Texas, and to Corpus Christi Liquefaction for the Stage 3 expansion at Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi complex on the Texas Gulf Coast.

The Annova authorisation is for up to 990mn ft³/day of natural gas, or 6.96mn mt/yr of LNG; the Texas LNG authorisation is for 204bn ft³/year of natural gas or 4mn mt/yr of LNG; NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project received authorisation to export 1,318bn ft³/yr of natural gas as LNG; and Corpus Christi Liquefaction received an authorisation to export 1.59bn ft³/day of natural gas or the equivalent of 11.45mn mt/yr of LNG.

All authorisations are for 20 years from the date of first export. In the case of the NextDecade authorisation, the non-FTA approval is combined with an FTA approval of the same volume issued in 2016, and is thus “non-additive”, the DoE said in its order.

None of the projects receiving export authorisations have yet received final investment decisions from their respective sponsors.