Freeport LNG ships 800th cargo

The LNG terminal operator announced the departure of the milestone shipment in a social media post on Tuesday.

Freeport LNG said that the cargo was lifted by Japan’s LNG trader and power firm Jera.

According to its AIS data provided by VesselsValue, the 2019-built 180,000-cbm, Bushu Maru, was on Wendesday heading to Singapore, where it is expected to arrive early next month.

This LNG carrier is jointly owned by NYK and Jera and is assigned to transport LNG for a 20-year period from the Freeport LNG terminal in which Jera has an equity interest.

Earlier this year, Jera agreed to sell a part of its stake in Freeport LNG to compatriot Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex).

Jera’s unit Jera Americas holds via Gulf Coast LNG a 25.7 percent interest in Freeport LNG Development, which operates the liquefaction plant in Texas.

Under the deal, Jera will sell 15 percent of its interest in Gulf Coast LNG to a US unit of Japex for about $380 million.

As a result, Jera’s interest in Freeport LNG Development will be equivalent to about 21.9 percent.

In January 2022, Jera completed its acquisition of the 25.7 percent stake in Freeport LNG Development from US-based Global Infrastructure Partners for $2.5 billion.

Prior to that, Jera already owned 25 percent of Freeport LNG train 1. It also has a deal for 2.32 mtpa of LNG for use in Japan and other importing countries.

Besides the Jera stake, Osaka Gas has a 10.8 percent stake in Freeport LNG while Freeport LNG Investments holds a 63.5 percent stake.

Capacity boost

Freeport LNG, led by billionaire Michael Smith, began export operations from the first train in 2019 and the second train in January 2020.

The LNG terminal operator launched commercial operations in May 2020 for the third train at its facility.

This event also marked the full commercial operation of Freeport LNG’s $13.5 billion, three-train facility.

The facility did not ship LNG cargoes from June 2022 to February 2023 due to an incident that occurred at the facility in early June 2022.

Of the 15 mtpa of Freeport LNG’s export capacity, 13.4 mtpa has been sold to Osaka Gas, Jera, BP, TotalEnergies, and SK E&S.

Earlier this year, Freeport LNG said it had completed most of its debottlenecking project, which will increase the terminal’s production capacity from an excess of 15 mtpa to just over 16.5 mtpa.

A spokeswoman for Freeport LNG recently told LNG Prime that Freeport LNG is “working to implement the benefits of those efforts.”

Additionally, Freeport LNG is also planning to add a fourth liquefaction unit to increase capacity further.

Freeport LNG’s train 4, which has received all regulatory approvals, will add an additional 25 percent LNG production capacity, when it becomes operational.

However, Freeport LNG still needs to make a final investment decision on this project.