LNG market risks oversupply from new export projects, CEOs say

The LNG market could end up with excess supply in the next decade as companies race to build a new wave of LNG export projects even without customers, but the long-range view still looks good for developers, senior executives said May 28 at an industry conference in Australia. The oversupply will result in lower LNG prices and will affect profit margins, similar to the way the LNG market has been overwhelmed by excess supply from Australian and U.S. projects in the last couple of years, the executives said.

Tanker stops at Cameron LNG as 1st export cargo nears

A tanker at the newly operational Cameron LNG terminal in Louisiana could carry the first commissioning cargo of liquefied natural gas from the Sempra Energy-led project. The Singapore-flagged ship, called the Marvel Crane, arrived at the facility May 28, according to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com. The ship is chartered under a long-term contract to Mitsui & Co. Ltd., one of the joint owners of the Cameron LNG project.

Southern Co. Gas unit starts up small-scale LNG facility in Florida

Southern Co. Gas' Pivotal LNG Inc. has begun operations at its small-scale LNG facility project in Jacksonville, Fla., the first of its kind in the U.S. with both marine- and truck-loading capabilities. JAX LNG has a production capacity of 120,000 gallons of LNG per day, and a storage capacity of over 2 million gallons, according to a May 23 news release.

Venture Global gets $1.3B investment for Calcasieu Pass LNG project

Venture Global LNG received a $1.3 billion equity investment commitment from the private equity firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners to develop the Calcasieu Pass LNG export project in Cameron Parish, La. The new investment raises the total committed capital for the Calcasieu project, plus Venture Global's Plaquemines and Delta LNG projects, to $2.2 billion, according to a May 28 news release.

Freeport LNG gets DOE approval to export from 4th train

Freeport LNG Development LP obtained federal authorization to export LNG from the fourth liquefaction train at its LNG export facility on Quintana Island in Texas to countries without a free trade agreement with the U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy announced the approval at the Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver, British Columbia, according to a May 28 news release.

NextDecade taps Bechtel as contractor for 1st phase of Rio Grande LNG

NextDecade Corp. has chosen Bechtel Corp.'s Bechtel Oil Gas and Chemicals Inc. for the engineering, procurement and construction of the first phase of the Rio Grande LNG LLC project in Texas, as it works toward a final investment decision in the third quarter. The Rio Grande LNG developer signed two fully wrapped lump-sum turnkey contracts with Bechtel, which include cost, schedule and performance guarantees for the first project phase, according to a May 28 news release.