Venture Global LNG has postponed a final investment decision (FID) on its proposed Plaquemines LNG export project in Louisiana, leaving Sempra Energy's decision to build Costa Azul as the world's only FID on an LNG export project in 2020.
On its website, Venture Global said it plans to build Plaquemines in mid-2021 and put it into operation in 2024. The company had no comment on when it updated the Plaquemines website. In September, the website said it planned a FID in late 2020 with commercial service starting in 2023-2024.
Plaquemines is designed to produce up to 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG. Analysts estimated the plant will cost about $8.5 billion. To deliver natural gas to the Plaquemines project site, Venture Global has proposed to construct two 42-inch pipelines that connect to existing interstate natural gas pipelines.
That pipeline project, dubbed Gator Express, calls for construction in two segments–a 15-mile first segment that interconnects with Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company and Texas Eastern Transmission, and a second segment that would include a looped, 12-mile section to deliver additional supplies from Texas Eastern. Each segment would be designed to deliver 1.9 Bcf/d.
In addition to Plaquemines, Venture Global is building the 10-MTPA Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana, which is expected to cost about $4.5 billion and enter service in the autumn of 2022. The first two LNG trains for Calcasieu Pass have been delivered to Venture Global from a Baker Hughes manufacturing facility in Italy.
Venture Global is also developing the 20-MTPA Delta LNG export plant in Louisiana. The company said it hopes to start construction in the second half of 2021 with the first phase entering service in the second half of 2024 and the second phase in the second half of 2025.
Last year saw a record level of approvals for new LNG export plants, but investment in new energy infrastructure dried up in 2020 after oil and gas prices collapsed due to coronavirus demand destruction.
At the start of 2020, a dozen or so North American developers said they planned to make FIDs by the end of this year. But all were delayed until 2021 or later.
Sempra Energy announced Tuesday that its ECA Liquefaction subsidiary will build the Costa Azul LNG export plant in Mexico.
