Golden Pass LNG is awaiting permission from the United States federal energy regulator to increase their under-construction terminal in Texas from 15.6 million ton per year to 18.1 million ton per year. The ongoing construction of the terminal is estimated to be worth around $10 billion and scheduled to be running in 2024. The company registering its capacity addition request to U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week. Golden Pass spokesperson explains that the increase does not involve any equipment changes or environmental permit adjustments, but only achieved by production efficiencies. As the capacity increase is not achieved through adjustments and additions from the permitted facilities, the constructions and environmental impacts are not changed beyond the previous FERC permits, Golden Pass sources explained.
The three-phase project was started in mid-2019 and are on schedule to start their first liquefaction in 2024 with phase 2 is expected in 6-8 months after the first, and last phase in another 6-8 months. On the assumption that the production increase approved by FERC, each train will be capable of producing approximately 6 MTPA (million ton per annum) of LNG or 0.79 billion cubic feet/day of natural gas.
Golden Pass LNG owned by units of Exxon Mobil Corp by 30% and 70% by Qatar Petroleum. McDermott International Inc units, Zachry Group, and Chiyoda Corp are companies in charge of building the project. Including under-construction projects, the United States’ LNG export capacity is expected to gain as much as 10.0 billion cubic feet/day by the end of this year and 10.7 billion cubic feet/day by the end of 2021. The current output is approximately 9.9 billion cubic feet/day. The completing of the Golden Pass facilities will boost the United States to become the world’s biggest LNG exporter in 2024, surpassing Qatar and Australia.
