FERC Set to Vote On Sabine Pass LNG Export Project
The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant to be built in the U.S. in 50 years is to be the subject of an April 19 vote by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to a FERC public notice. The plant would be at Sabine Pass on the border between Louisiana and Texas.
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Sabine Pass LNG would be built on the same site as Cheniere Energy Partners' existing LNG import plant. "We expect the project to be approved, with conditions," said Baird Equity Research analysts in a note to investors Friday. "We don't know whether any conditions would constitute a requirement that could potentially delay the start of construction."
The Sabine Pass terminal, to be operational in 2015 if approved, would have send-out capacity of 4 billion cubic feet per day and storage capacity of 16.9 billion cubic feet equivalent. It would be built on 853 acres along the Sabine Pass River, on the widest point of the Sabine River Navigation Channel, 3.7 miles from open water and 23 nautical miles from the outer buoy.
In February, Cheniere announced a $2 billion equity investment in the Sabine River project by Blackstone Capital Partners. The closing of the financing is subject to the receipt of regulatory approval, Cheniere said.
Several other U.S. projects to export LNG have also been proposed, but so far only Cheniere has government approval to export LNG globally. The U.S. is now said to have decades of supply of natural gas, and the U.S. market is said to be saturated with it, driving domestic prices down and making exports attractive.