U.S. approves commercial service for Sempra Louisiana Cameron LNG export plant

Chiyoda

26/07/2019 16:04

July 26 (Reuters) - U.S. energy regulators on Friday
approved Sempra Energy's  SRE.N  request to commence commercial
service of the first liquefaction train at its $10 billion
Cameron liquefied natural gas export (LNG) terminal in
Louisiana.
    The plant exported its first cargo in May, making it the
fourth big LNG export terminal operating in the United States.
In total, the facility has exported four cargoes, according to
data firm Refinitiv.
    Natural gas use is growing fast around the world as
countries wean their industrial and power sectors off coal as
they seek cleaner forms of energy. Gas emits about half the
carbon dioxide of coal when burned.
    There are three liquefaction trains at Cameron. The first
started producing LNG in mid May. Sempra has said it expects
Cameron 2 and 3 will enter service in the first and second
quarters of 2020.   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N22Q0N4
    Cameron is designed to produce about 12 million tonnes per
annum (MTPA) of LNG, or roughly 1.7 billion cubic feet per day
(bcfd) of natural gas. One billion cubic feet of gas is enough
to fuel about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.
    When the United States sent out its first LNG cargo from
Cheniere Energy Inc's  LNG.A  Sabine Pass export terminal in
Louisiana in February 2016, the country was not exporting any of
the fuel.
    Since then, the United States became the world's fourth
biggest LNG exporter in 2018, behind Qatar, Australia and
Malaysia, and is on track to overtake Malaysia and become the
third biggest in 2019. By the mid 2020s, analysts expect the
United States will become the biggest LNG exporter in the world.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N24H0T0
    Just looking at terminals under construction, U.S. LNG
export capacity is expected to jump to 7.2 bcfd by the end of
2019 and 9.9 bcfd in 2020 from 6.3 bcfd now.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N24B19C
    Cameron is owned by affiliates of Sempra, Total SA
 TOTF.PA , Mitsui & Co Ltd  8031.T , and Japan LNG Investment
LLC, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corp  8058.T  and
Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK)  9101.T . Sempra indirectly
owns 50.2% of Cameron.
    McDermott International Inc  MDR.N  and Chiyoda Corp
 6366.T  are the lead contractors at Cameron.
    Sempra has a long-term goal of exporting 45 MTPA of North
American LNG and is developing a second two-train phase at
Cameron, the Port Arthur LNG export terminal in Texas and plans
to add export facilities in two phases at its existing Costa
Azul LNG import terminal in Baja California in Mexico.

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
GRAPHIC-Expansion of global LNG gasification and regasification
capacity    http://tmsnrt.rs/2mtY5CY
GRAPHIC-Growing global natural gas demand    http://tmsnrt.rs/2mtP90z
UPDATE 2-Saudi Aramco inks 20-year deal with Sempra for LNG
supply     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N22Y172
UPDATE 1-Sempra Louisiana Cameron 1 export plant produces first
LNG     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N22Q0N4
CORRECTED-U.S., China will be world's biggest LNG exporter and
importer in 2024 -IEA     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N24H0T0
FACTBOX-North American liquefied natural gas export projects   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N24B19C
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino
Editing by Susan Thomas)
 ((scott.disavino@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223-6072; Reuters
Messaging: scott.disavino.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))