Oregon LNG has asked the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to begin an early environmental review of its proposed liquefied natural gas import and export terminal on the US West Coast.
The company is moving ahead with the FERC process, even though the Department of Energy has put some LNG export applications on hold, Peter Hansen, the project manager, said Thursday.
"The whole permitting process for a large LNG facility is so complicated, if you sit around and wait for this, that and the other to fall into place, you will never get it done," he said.
Oregon LNG and its Oregon Pipeline affiliate on Tuesday applied to begin FERC's National Environmental Policy Act pre-filing process. Pre-filing allows for early input from stakeholders regarding the possible environmental impacts of a project. It is designed to facilitate the formal NEPA review process.
Oregon LNG in 2008 applied to build an LNG import facility and a related pipeline in the Northwest.
The company now plans to amend that application to add LNG export facilities and make other changes to the project, the pre-filing request said. It expects to file the amendment application in the first quarter of 2013.
The revised $6.3-billion project near Warrenton, Oregon, is designed to export 1.25 Bcf/d of gas and import 0.5 Bcf/d of gas, Hansen said. It will also include an 86-mile pipeline to link the terminal to Williams' Northwest Pipeline at Woodland, Washington, he explained.
The liquefaction trains and regasification facilities are scheduled to begin operating in the second quarter of 2017 and reach full capacity in the first quarter of 2019, the request said.
Oregon LNG has already received approval from DOE to export LNG to countries that have Free Trade Agreements with the US. The company will soon apply to export LNG to non-FTA countries, Hansen said.
Fourteen companies have applied to DOE to export a combined 18.7 Bcf/d of gas as LNG. DOE has authorized 11 companies to ship LNG to FTA nations, but it has only authorized one terminal -- Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana -- to export to non-FTA countries as well.
The department plans to hold off on approving more non-FTA export applications until it has completed the second of a pair of studies on the domestic impacts of LNG exports, which is due in late summer.
