Sabine Pass gets Energy Department approval for LNG export

Fuel Fix ^ | 5/20/2011 | Tom Fowler

[thackney]

The Department of Energy has given Cheniere Energy approval to export liquefied natural gas from its Sabine Pass LNG terminal on the Louisiana side of the waterway.

The project still needs final environmental permits and approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but the DOE approval is a key step forward for the project to turn U.S. natural gas into a super-chilled liquid for export.

Sabine Pass opened in 2008 as a terminal to take in shipments from overseas. A surge in natural gas production from U.S. shale gas fields turned the market on its head, however, reducing the need for imports.

Houston-based Cheniere Energy Partners and other LNG terminal owners first sought, and were granted, permits to re-export LNG that was offloaded at their terminals. The permits to turn U.S. natural gas into a liquid for export were first filed last year when it became clearer that U.S. supplies were likely to remain strong.

Cheniere said the DOE approval will allow it to export up to 803 billion cubic feet of gas per year.

The approval is “a significant milestone” for the project, which would be the first bi-directional LNG processing facility capable of importing and exporting LNG, said Cheniere Chairman and CEO Charif Souki.

Cheniere has non-binding agreements with potential customers for up to 9.8 million tons per year of natural gas liquefaction capacity. Based on customer interest the company expects to build one of the four planned liquefaction facilities every six to nine months beginning in the first half of 2015.

Construction of the facilities could mean up to 3,000 temporary jobs in the area and between 150 to 250 full-time positions to operate and maintain the project once completed.

[FreeAtlanta]

These, nuclear power plants, and oil refineries should be “fast tracked”. They need one Government agent who’s only job is to sign releases on energy projects.

The feds only job right now should be to keep their leftist lawsuit happy animals caged until we get our energy crises under control.

[Wonder Warthog]

Heh!....Wotta turnaround. Not too very long ago, it was postulated that the US would be a very large IMPORTER of CNG. I wonder what the folks up north are going to think when all those coon-asses show up to help drill....:^)

[CPOSharky]

Any bets on when someone will find an endangered sub-sub-sub-species of the spotted snot flea to put a hold on this project?

[thackney]

I’ll take that bet.

This is an existing facility. They don’t need to build much of anything.

The LNG port was built not long ago to import LNG. The shale gas boom has created so much US supply we are on our way to become an exporter instead of an importer.

The Sabine Pass terminal is the largest receiving terminal, by regasification capacity, in the world. In the future stages of Phase 2 we may add a sixth storage tank and related facilities to bring the total LNG storage volume to 20.2 Bcf.

http://www.cheniere.com/LNG_terminals/sabine_pass_lng.shtml