UPDATE: US LNG Export Terminals -- RBN Energy -- August 22, 2022

Updates

October 24, 2022: another LNG export terminal? Another one on East Coast?

Original Post

RBN Energy: as the US races toward 30 Bcf/d of LNG exports, what could it mean for upstream markets? Archived.

The momentum for U.S. LNG right now is powerful. 

With Europe’s efforts to wean itself off Russian natural gas boosting long-term LNG demand and Asian consumption expected to grow even further, there has been a strong push for new LNG projects in North America. 

So far, that has helped propel two U.S. projects, Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG and Cheniere’s Corpus Christi Stage III, to reach a final investment decision (FID). 

With these two projects getting a green light, total export capacity in the U.S. will be at least 130 MMtpa — or 17.3 Bcf/d — by mid-decade. 

That top-line export capacity could be much higher, however. There are currently eight U.S. Gulf Coast pre-FID projects with binding sales agreements, and a handful of projects that are fully subscribed in credible non-binding deals. 

If all those projects go forward, it would add a staggering 86 MMtpa (11.4 Bcf/d) of export capacity to the U.S., pushing the total toward 30 Bcf/d, or 225 MMtpa. In today’s RBN blog we look at U.S. LNG under development, how high export capacity could go, and the implications for the U.S. natural gas market.

More On The Sempra Energy LNG Export Story

Earlier I had a post on the story that the US approved Sempra's LNG export project. Based on the number of headlines over at SRE / Yahoo!Finance, this is a pretty big deal. Since the approval was announced June 18, 2014, there are no less than a dozen headline articles. Of course, what made me look at it again, was today's posting by RBN Energy on natural gas exports to Mexico and a fairly long paragraph in that story on Sempra.

Most recently, Investor's Business Daily:

Sempra Energy, one of the largest natural gas transportation companies in the country, won approval last week for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility along the Louisiana coast.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted unanimously for the Cameron LNG project, which is estimated to cost $9 billion to $10 billion. Some members of Congress were pushing hard for a quick approval so that natural gas could be shipped to Europe to help end Russia's energy dominance in the region.

On Thursday when the facility won approval, Sempra's stock jumped more than 1% on above-average volume.

Spectra plans to begin construction later this year and to begin liquefying natural gas in late 2017, becoming fully operational in 2018.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. 

 

By the way, a thought in passing: Warren Buffett, back in 2013, I believe, talked about the big mistake he made buying COP back in 2008. That was so out of character: COP spun off PSX, perhaps one of the best investment stories in the past couple of years, and COP, itself, hit an all-time high yesterday. Warren Buffett sold his COP at a loss I believe, and did so prematurely, exchanging COP for XOM. This is so contrary to Warren Buffett's manatra of buying good companies for the long term. Idle chatter. Much more can be found by googling the subject.

Back to Sempra. 

The Bloomberg story on June 18: Sempra wins final US approval for Cameron LNG export plant.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted unanimously today to let Sempra’s Cameron LNG project in Louisiana move forward. The company said it plans to start building the estimated $9 billion to $10 billion terminal later this year.

“This is a landmark project that will bring economic prosperity and create thousands of jobs in Louisiana,” Sempra Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Debra Reed said in a statement. “Today’s approval is another important step in delivering natural gas to America’s trading partners abroad.”

Democrats and Republicans in Congress have pushed to expedite approval of the export terminals to send the fuel to Europe and reduce Russia’s energy dominance after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region. The Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee in April approved and sent the full House a bill that would speed Energy Department approval of LNG export applications.

Cameron “will position America as an energy superpower,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, said today in a statement. 

And, of course, it might just save Landrieu her job. But I thought the US was already an energy superpower.