Calcasieu Channel Draws a Crowd of US Export Aspirants

Five liquefaction projects have begun construction in the US but another 250 MMt/y or so of capacity remains in the proposal stage trying to find customers in an already hotly‐contested market for LNG buyers. When Sempra told US energy regulators in February that it wanted to increase the size of its Cameron LNG terminal by another two trains it not only added another 10 MMt/y of potential supply into the market but highlighted an increasing interest in building liquefaction on the Calcasieu Channel in Louisiana. With Cameron’s expansion plans – three trains are already being built – the amount of proposed capacity on the Calcasieu Channel has reached more than 90 MMt/y. While not all of this capacity will get built and the finite number of LNG buyers will ultimately prove to be the determinant, the building boom on the Calcasieu underscores the logistical limits that confront US liquefaction aspirations. The Calcasieu is already a busy thoroughfare for marine traffic because of existing refining and petrochemical facilities. At present, however, there is no LNG traffic because the two existing regasification terminals – Cameron LNG and Trunkline LNG – have not taken cargoes in years amid a well‐supplied US gas market. Construction of up to 90 MMt/y of liquefaction capacity would theoretically boost activity in the channel by more than 1,200 LNG tanker calls per year, based on loadings with 170,000 cubic meter (m3) vessels. The combined marine traffic for the entire channel totaled just over 1,100 vessel calls in 2014 and is expected to be more than 1,500 in 2015, according to data from the Port of Lake Charles. In anticipation of the boom in LNG exports in the channel, the port commissioned a traffic study earlier this year that predicted movements in the Calcasieu would jump by 120% to 2,249 vessel calls in 2028. Please fill out form below to view article.