Venture Global moving forward with Plaquemines LNG commissioning

The regulator said in a filing dated November 6 that it grated Venture Global Plaquemines LNG’s request to commission and introduce hazardous fluid to the HP and LP fuel gas systems and the warm flare system.

This approval is based on FERC staff’s on-site inspection, and review of the information filed on October 25 and November 4, it said.

Before this, Venture Global received approval to commission the AGRU system by circulating demineralized water to the clean liquid circuit and operate the AGRU reboiler, and inventory and operate the R134a compressors, according to a separate filing dated November 1.

Venture Global recently also secured approval to commission the liquefaction train system block 4 with nitrogen.

The FERC granted the commissioning of the liquefaction train system block 3 with nitrogen on September 30, block 2 on September 10, and block 1 on August 23, previous fillings show.

Venture Global took a final investment decision in May 2022 on the first phase of the Plaquemines project with a capacity of 13.3 mtpa and the related pipeline. It also secured $13.2 billion in project financing.

In March last year, the company sanctioned the second phase of the Plaquemines LNG export plant in Louisiana and also secured $7.8 billion in project financing.

The full project, including the second stage, will have a capacity of 20 mtpa coming from 36 modular units, configured in 18 blocks.

Each train has a capacity of 0.626 mtpa.

First LNG nears

In September, Venture Global received approval from the FERC to start reverse cooldown activities at its Plaquemines LNG export plant.

Venture Global posted an image via its social media on August 23 of the 2020-built 174,000-cbm, Qogir, at the Plaquemines LNG export facility.

The company said in its August construction report filed with FERC that the LNG carrier docked at the second Plaquemines LNG loading platform (LP2).

Qogir left the jetty in September and picked up a cargo at Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass facility, its AIS data provided by VesselsValue previously showed.

In August, Venture Global revealed in a FERC filing that it expects to start LNG production at its Plaquemines LNG plant in the fall of this year.

Venture Global said at the time that the company’s second project had completed nearly 80 percent of its construction.

Venture Global is targeting first production of LNG this fall, with “exports of LNG on
a pre-commercial operation basis beginning soon thereafter,” it said.

The company previously said it expects the commissioning process for the Plaquemines LNG terminal to take about 24 months.