Sempra at final stage for Cameron LNG FERC approval
The California-based company Sempra Energy (Sempra) and its partners, GDF-Suez from France, Mitsubishi Corporation (Mitsubishi) and Mitsui & Co, Ltd (Mitsui) from Japan , are reaching the final stage of the complex process approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its Cameron LNG project at Hackberry in Louisiana, USA.
As a utility company, Sempra built the Cameron LNG terminal to import natural gas before the development of the shale gas in USA.
Located in Hackberry, 25 kilometers away from the Gulf of Mexico coast, on the bank of the Calcasieu Channel in Louisiana, the Cameron LNG terminal started import operations in 2008.
With $900 million capital expenditure this import terminal has a regasification capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (cf/d).
As most of the owners of LNG import terminals in USA, Sempra decided to convert Cameron LNG into an export terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG).
In April 2012, Sempra applied for the pre-filling process of the FERC and went through.
In December 2012, Sempra submitted its application for the FERC itself.
In April 2014, Sempra received from the FERC the “Notice of Schedule for Environmental Review” to release it “Final Environmental Impact Statement” in November 2013.
With this notification, Sempra is reaching the final stage of the FERC approval, and thus positioning its Cameron LNG project as the first in-line export LNG project to receive the FERC authorization on first quarter 2014.
Foster Wheeler completed Cameron LNG FEED
In parallel to this approval process Sempra signed in 2012 commercial agreements with Mitsubishi and Mitsui, then with GDF-Suez for the supply of 4 million tonnes per year (t/y) of LNG.
Then to support such a project, Sempra formed a joint venture with commercial partners to give them the opportunity to acquire 16.6% while keeping the remaining 50.2% of the existing facilities and the Cameron LNG project.
Based on the FEED completed by Foster Wheeler and with the technical support of its partners, Sempra will operate the Cameron LNG project to include:
– 3 LNG trains
– Gas inlet pipeline
– LNG Storage facilities
– Jetty for offloading the LNG carriers
This FEED also includes the opportunity to proceed to the addition of a Cameron LNG train 4 if new commercial agreements could be signed in the meantime of the FERC approval process.
In January 2013, Sempra and its partners launched the call for tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the Cameron LNG project.
Two consortia have been qualified by Sempra and its partners for this Cameron LNG EPC contract to be awarded in following the FERC approval.
In May 2013, Sempra, GDF-Suez, Mitsubishi and Mitsui signed tolling agreements for the three LNG trains with a total capacity of 13.5 million tonnes per year (t/y) to provide an export capacity of 12 million t/y.
On this base, the Cameron LNG project should require Sempra and its partners GDF-Suez, Mitsubishi and Mitsui, to invest $7 billion capital expenditure for the first three LNG trains due to ship first export LNG in 2017.
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