Oct 22 (Reuters) - U.S. liquefied natural gas company
Venture Global LNG asked federal regulators on Friday for
permission to start commissioning liquefaction systems at the
company's Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana.
In a filing with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC), Venture Global said it has fulfilled the
environmental conditions needed to start commissioning and
requested FERC give permission to proceed no later than Oct. 29.
Venture Global filed for permission to build the project in
September 2015 and received FERC approval to start construction
in February 2019.
The plant is expected to start producing LNG in test mode
later this year before entering commercial service in early
2022.
Venture Global is installing 18 modular liquefaction trains
at Calcasieu to produce about 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA)
of LNG, equivalent to about 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of
natural gas. Analysts estimate the plant cost about $4.5
billion.
In addition to Calcasieu, Venture Global has about 60 MTPA
of LNG export capacity under development in Louisiana, including
the 20-MTPA Plaquemines, which could start construction later
this year, the 20-MTPA Delta and the 20-MTPA CP2.
Several firms have entered long-term deals to buy LNG from
Calcasieu, including units of Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSa.L , BP
PLC BP.L , Edison SpA EDNn.MI , Galp Energia SGPS SA
GALP.LS , Repsol SA REP.MC and Polish Oil and Gas Co (PGNiG).
Units of China Petroleum and Chemical Corp 600028.SS , or
Sinopec, have also agreed to buy LNG from Venture Global as
China, the world's second-biggest economy, looks to secure
long-term energy supplies amid soaring gas prices and domestic
power shortages. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RG083
Some of the LNG that Sinopec will buy could come from
Calcasieu and some from Plaquemines. Venture Global has not
officially announced the Sinopec deal yet, but did talk about it
in a Plaquemines filing with the U.S. Department of Energy.
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Venture Global gets loan for Louisiana Plaquemines LNG
construction urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2KH180
FACTBOX-U.S. new natural gas pipeline projects urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K71HB
Venture Global delays Louisiana Plaquemines LNG export FID to
2021 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2I42CQ
UPDATE 2-China signs huge LNG deals with U.S. supplier Venture
Global urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RG083
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(Reporting by Scott DiSavino
Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
((scott.disavino@thomsonreuters.com; +1 332 219 1922; Reuters
Messaging: scott.disavino.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))