Over the past several months, DOE has received questions regarding the status of various applications to export LNG to non-free trade agreement (FTA) countries and recently, in particular, about the status of the Venture Global CP2 LNG and Commonwealth LNG applications, the regulator said in a statement.
Last month, following decisions of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, FERC issued notices with the schedule for supplemental environmental iimpact statements (EIS) for the CP2 project and its associated pipeline, and the Commonwealth project.
The FERC notices require that each EIS address issues related to FERC’s analysis of the cumulative air quality impacts specific to the CP2 project’s NO2 and PM2.5 emissions and the Commonwealth project’s NO2 emissions.
Additionally, FERC issued an order setting aside, in part, its earlier authorization order for the CP2 project, and explained that “no authorization to proceed with construction of the CP2 LNG project or CP Express Pipeline project will be issued . . . until the Commission issues a further merits order.”
“Relying on DOE policy and consistent with precedent during the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations for the program that governs export of domestically-sourced natural gas as LNG to non-FTA countries, DOE cannot complete its review of these two applications—CP2 and Commonwealth – until after FERC’s completion of the environmental reviews and issuance of final merits orders,” the department said.
DOE noted that seven applications to export domestically-sourced natural gas as LNG to non-FTA countries are still undergoing environmental review before other federal agencies in which DOE is a cooperating agency.
Besides Commonwealth and CP2, the projects include Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG, New Fortress Energy Louisiana FLNG, Gulfstream LNG Development, Cheniere’s Corpus Christi Liquefaction, CCL Midscale 8-9, and Sabine Pass Liquefaction Stage V.
The Biden administration said in January it will pause pending decisions on exports of LNG to non-FTA countries until DOE can update the underlying analyses for authorizations.
However, the Trump administration is expected to resume with non-FTA approvals from 2025.
Kimmeridge’s Commonwealth LNG recently entered into a deal to supply LNG to Switzerland-based energy trader Glencore.
Under the heads of terms, Glencore will buy 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG for 20 years from Commonwealth, as well as equivalent natural gas supply from Kimmeridge Texas Gas under a netback agreement at international prices.
In June, Kimmeridge, via its affiliate KTG took a 90 percent stake in Commonwealth.
Before that, Commonwealth closed an investment of development capital from funds managed by Kimmeridge.
The two firms also agreed in principle on terms for a 20-year, 2 mtpa LNG offtake commitment from the facility along with the associated gas supply.
Kimmeridge said that Commonwealth expects a final investment decision on its LNG export facility in Louisiana in the first half of 2025, with the first LNG production expected in 2028.
Earlier this year, Commonwealth pushed back the decision from the first quarter of 2024 to the first half of 2025 due to the US DOE pause in permit reviews.
On the other hand, in July last year, FERC issued a final environmental impact statement for the CP2 project, Venture Global’s third LNG export terminal.
In a 2-1 decision, FERC commissioners approved the project and the project’s pipeline during a meeting in June this year.
The CP2 LNG plant will be located next to Venture Global’s existing Calcasieu Pass liquefaction plant in Louisiana, which is still in the commissioning phase.
It will have 18 liquefaction blocks, each with a capacity of about 1.1 mtpa of LNG, and also four 200,000-cbm full containment LNG storage tanks.
“This press release was crafted to give the illusion of an eleventh-hour win to well-funded NGOs and does not reflect DOE’s obligations under the Natural Gas Act. We look forward to President Trump and Secretary Wright returning DOE to regular order,” VG spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said in a response to the DOE announcement.
“This will allow the American energy industry to continue building, creating jobs, and unleashing much needed US LNG supply to our allies,” she said.
“Between current and planned facilities, Venture Global is prepared to invest $50 billion in energy projects based in the United States. We are confident the incoming administration will follow the Natural Gas Act as past Democrat and Republican administrations historically have and restore sound energy policy and certainty to support these investments,” Hynes said.
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