US Export Applications Soar as LNG Interest Builds

Export applications totaling over 13 Bcf/d have now been received by the US Department of Energy from eight separate liquefaction projects as firms seek to benefit from the supply glut that has followed the shale gas boom in the Lower-48. The latest to join the queue is Gulf Coast Exports LLC with a request covering up to 2.8 Bcf/d from four trains at a new greenfield plant in the Texas port of Brownsville. This follows a second application from Freeport LNG Expansion seeking to export a further 1.4 Bcf/d on top of the 1.4 Bcf/d it requested in 2010 for a first phase of an LNG project proposed at its existing terminal on Quintana Island near Houston. Only Cheniere’s Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC in Louisiana has received permission to export to countries with free trade agreements with the US and those without such treaties, and it has already leveraged this first mover advantage by tying up buyers for all four of its trains. Cheniere has also launched the pre-filing process for a 1.8 Bcf/d project at its Corpus Christie site in Texas that is not included in the DOE list. Download here