Freeport LNG Terminal

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

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Freeport LNG is an LNG import terminal in Freeport, Texas. New LNG trains for export are under construction at the terminal.

Location

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Export Project Details

• Owner: Freeport LNG Development
• Parent:
• Location: Freeport, Texas, United States
• Coordinates: 30.366324, -81.626135 (exact)
• Capacity: 15 mtpa, 2 bcfd
• Status: Construction
• Type: Export
• Trains: 4
• Start Year: 2019

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Import Project Details

• Owner: Freeport LNG Development
• Parent:
• Location: Freeport, Texas, United States
• Coordinates: 30.366324, -81.626135 (exact)
• Capacity: 11.5 mtpa, 1.65 bcfd
• Status: Operating
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 2008

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Background

Freeport LNG Development, L.P. designed, built and operates the Freeport LNG import terminal in Freeport, Texas. ConocoPhillips bought two-thirds of the capacity of Freeport LNG and Dow Chemical the remaining third. Construction began in 2005 and was completed in 2008.

After the US fracking boom, Freeport LNG filed two DOE applications, each for 511 Bcf/year in December 2010 and 2011, and received approval from DOE to export LNG to Free Trade Agreement countries in February 2011 and 2012. In December 2010, Freeport LNG also submitted a pre-filing request with FERC to begin the environmental review of the liquefaction project.

Freeport LNG intends to file its formal application pursuant to Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) by August 2012 and will request that FERC authorize by 2013. Freeport LNG anticipates a construction schedule of approximately three to four years, beginning in early 2017.

In April 2015 Freeport LNG secured the final piece of financing for its $12.5 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal, placing the company on track to begin producing by early 2018 and fully operational by 2019.

On May 17, 2013, the DOE gave the green light to Freeport LNG Expansion and FLNG Liquefaction’s proposal to send 1.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas overseas for 25 years, allowing export to nations that do not have a free-trade agreement with the U.S. The decision came less than 24 hours after the Senate confirmed Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, author of a 2011 MIT report on natural gas that advocated its export.

Construction of the export terminal started in late 2014. The first three production trains will add approximately 15 million metric tonnes per year (mtpa) of nominal liquefaction capacity to the Quintana Island terminal facilities. An additional LNG train (Train 4) is under development. As of February 2019, construction for the export terminal was ongoing, and pre-commissioning had begun for Train 1.