New LNG Export Terminal Coming to Louisiana
Energy developer Live Oak LNG will invest $2 billion to develop a liquefaction facility and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal near Lake Charles, Louisiana. A fully owned subsidiary of Houston, Texas-based Parallax Energy, Live Oak LNG will submit its applications to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission within the next few weeks. The necessary permits are expected to be secured from the agency by late 2016 when a three-phase construction schedule will begin.
Sited on 350 acres on the Calcasieu Waterway, the “mid-sized” project will consist of a liquefaction plant with a capacity of up to 5 million metric tons per year, a pair of storage tanks capable of holding a total of 130,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, and shore-to-ship loading port facilities able to berth standard-sized LNG carriers. The plant is slated to go into operation in late 2019.
Live Oak initiated discussions on the proposed facility with Louisiana Economic Development (LED) in early 2014, which secured the project by offering the company incentives that included full utilization of the state’s package of job-development and industrial-tax-exemption programs.
“Deepwater port access and proximity to one of the United States’ major natural gas pipeline hubs are making such projects attractive for developers in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes as domestic natural gas production increases,” says George Swift, president and CEO of the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance.
Live Oak is the latest on the roster of major liquefaction and natural gas export projects in the state’s southwest region. The growing list includes Louisiana LNG Energy’s 200-acre natural gas export terminal on the east bank of the Mississippi River, near Mile Marker 46; a $10 billion storage and export facility currently under construction at Hackbury, Louisiana, for Cameron LNG; and an 8-million-per-annum capacity export facility planned at Lake Charles by Magnolia LNG.
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