FERCstaff issued a positive environmental assessment for the Freeport LNG liquefactionand export project's request to increase the authorized production capacity fromits facilities.

The proposedexpansion project would increase Freeport LNG's production capacity from 1.8 Bcf/dto 2.14 Bcf/d through existing facilities, with no additional construction or modificationneeded. This increase "represents updated equipment availability informationand a revised design feed gas composition case, which both allow for greater LNGproduction than the assumptions used to calculate the authorized liquefaction capacity,"according to the EA, approved by FERC staff on March 31.

Cooperatingfederal agencies have no more than 90 days after the assessment's release to finishtheir own work. (CP15-518)

's projectbegan construction on its first three liquefaction trains in October 2014, and isauthorized by the U.S. Department of Energy to export up to 1.8 Bcf/d of naturalgas for 20 years to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the U.S.(DOE Office of Fossil Energy Docket No. 10-161-LNG)

FERCstaff is working on an EA for Freeport LNG's proposed fourth liquefaction train,which would add about 5.1 million metric tons of LNG per year, or about 0.7 Bcf/d,to the terminal's capacity. (PF15-25)