US liquefaction developer Venture Global LNG has taken a final investment decision on its 10.8 million tonne per annum Calcasieu Pass LNG facility in Louisiana.
Venture Global, which is adopting a new offsite small-scale modular approach to building its new plant, said full site construction has been underway since February and the project is expected to start commercial operations in 2022.
The company has said that building the 18 modular liquefaction units offsite and shipping them in will speed up construction time and cut costs.
Buyers Shell, BP, Edison, Galp, Repsol and PGNiG have signed 20-year agreements to buy volumes on free-on-board (FOB) basis from the two-train facility.
Both Shell and BP have been seen in the market moving to extend their LNG shipping portfolios.
Poland’s PGNiG has launched a process to source eight LNG carriers for charter, largely to lift its newly purchased US volumes.
Edison has fixed an NYK Line newbuilding delivering in 2022 on a 20-year charter.
Venture Global is also developing the 20-mtpa Plaquemines LNG project and the similar sized Delta LNG project, both in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana on the Mississippi River.
Thanking their financiers, Venture Global LNG co-chief executives Mike Sabel and Bob Pender said: "Our goal has always been to lower the cost of electricity by delivering clean, low-cost LNG to the world.
With the Venture Global FID, a total of 31 million tonnes of new US LNG production has been sanctioned this year.
