Venture Global LNG has secured Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its $8.5bn Plaquemines LNG facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
Image: The Venture Global's proposed LNG project in US will have an export capacity of 20 million metric tons per year. Photo: Image by Lisen Kaci from Pixabay.
The FERC has issued the EIS for Venture Global’s 20 million tons per annum (mtpa) Plaquemines LNG facility and the associated Gator Express Pipeline.
Upon making final investment decision, Venture Global plans to start construction on the project in late 2019 with full commercial operations scheduled in 2023.
Venture Global co-CEOs Bob Pender and Mike Sabel jointly said in a statement: “We thank FERC for their timely issuance of the final EIS, which is an important regulatory milestone for our Plaquemines project.
“Plaquemines LNG has a binding 20-year offtake agreement with our partner PGNiG for 1 MTPA, and we are looking forward to announcing additional commercial milestones in the near-term.”
In the EIS report, staff at the FERC concluded that construction and operation of the Plaquemines LNG facility would result in some adverse environmental impacts.
However, the FERC has recommended impact avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures and additional measures to the firm in order to reduce environmental impacts to less-than-significant levels for the project.
FERC said in a statement: “We based our conclusions upon information provided by Plaquemines LNG and Gator Express Pipeline, through data requests; field investigations; literature research; geospatial analysis; alternatives analysis; public comments and a scoping session; and coordination with federal, state, and local agencies and Native American tribes.”
Expected to create 3,000 jobs during the construction phase, the Plaquemines LNG project will have an export capacity of 20 million metric tons per year. It is Venture Global’s second proposed LNG export project.
Additionally, the US FERC has accepted Venture Global’s pre-filing request for its 20mtpa Delta LNG project, on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans, and associated Delta Express pipeline.
Bob Pender and Mike Sabel jointly noted: “Delta LNG will allow us to accommodate additional customer demand beyond Plaquemines while replicating the industry-changing, low-cost approach taken by our Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines projects.
“We are excited to be under construction and in development on a total of 50 MPTA of liquefaction capacity, to bring North American natural gas to the world.”