US LNG exporter Venture Global LNG is seeking approval from the US FERC to launch operations of its entire Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana.
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass requests authorization to place in-service the remainder of the facilities for the project, and the TransCameron pipeline project, according to a filing dated March 25.
These include the power island, pre-treatment, LNG storage, boil-off gas (BOG), and marine facilities.
“With this submittal, Calcasieu Pass believes it has filed all required documentation demonstrating readiness to commence service of the remainder of the facility, as requested herein,” it said.
Calcasieu Pass requests approval of this in-service request by no later than April 1, 2025.
Commercial ops
In February, Venture Global said it expects to launch commercial operations at its Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana in April, some 68 months from its final investment decision and 38 months after production start.
Venture Global announced that it has notified its long-term customers that its Calcasieu Pass facility will start commercial operations on April 15, 2025.
“The facility will achieve its commercial operation date, or COD, in under 68 months from its August 2019 final investment decision, despite substantial impacts including two hurricanes, the Covid-19 pandemic, and major unforeseen manufacturing issues, such as with the heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) forming part of the facility’s power island,” the company said.
Calcasieu Pass produced its first LNG on January 19, 2022, moving from FID to LNG production in 29 months, and the first commissioning cargo left the facility on March 1, 2022.
In February last year, Venture Global asked FERC to extend the in-service deadline for the facility for one additional year, or by February 21, 2025.
The 10 mtpa Calcasieu Pass facility consists of 18 modular units configured in 9 blocks.
Customers of the Calcasieu pass facility include Shell, BP, Repsol, Edison, Galp, PGNiG, now part of Orlen, Sinopec’s unit Unipec, and CNOOC.
BP’s CEO Murray Auchincloss recently said he expects a ruling on an arbitration dispute with Venture Global to be delivered in the second half of this year.
BP has a 20-year LNG contract for volumes for the Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana, the same as Shell.
The two firms and other Calcasieu Pass customers are in a dispute with Venture Global over the launch of commercial operations at the facility, and they previously launched arbitration proceedings against Venture Global.