Calcasieu Pass LNG Export Facility, Louisiana

Calcasieu Pass LNG is a ten million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) LNG export terminal being developed by Venture Global Calcasieu Pass, a subsidiary of Venture Global LNG, in Louisiana, US.

The project received final approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in February 2019.

Site construction works on the £4.8bn ($5.8bn) project were started in February 2019, while the final investment decision (FID) as well the financial close for the project were announced in August 2019.

The LNG export facility is scheduled to commence operation in 2022 and will have an operational life of 25 years.

Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal location

The export facility will be built on a 930-acre site in Cameron Parish, towards the southern edge of the city of Lake Charles in Louisiana, on the intersection between the Calcasieu Ship Channel and the Gulf of Mexico.

Calcasieu Pass export terminal details

The Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility is being developed with nine liquefaction blocks of 1.2Mtpa capacity each, along with two 200,000m³ LNG storage tanks.

The construction of the LNG facility follows the modular approach and each liquefaction block at the facility will accommodate two LNG trains of 0.626Mtpa capacity.

The liquefaction blocks will receive power supply from a 720MW onsite natural gas-fired combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant.

The Calcasieu Pass LNG project also includes a marine terminal on the western side of the liquefaction facility. The marine terminal can accommodate LNG carriers with capacity up to 185,000m³. It will have two loading platforms supported by eight breasting dolphins, 12 mooring dolphins, and six intermediate walkway supports.

Gas supply

The Calcasieu Pass LNG export project will be integrated with Venture Global LNG’s  TransCameron pipeline to source feed gas.

The 38km-long and 42in-diametre TransCameron Pipeline will be interconnected with TETCO’s existing East Lateral pipeline near Grand Chenier, Louisiana, US.

The TransCameron pipeline will be designed to deliver 1.9 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas a day.

The FERC authorisation for the TransCameron pipeline was also received in February 2019.

Financing

Venture Global LNG secured a £1bn ($1.3bn) equity investment for the Calcasieu Pass LNG  project from Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure-focused private equity firm based in the US in May 2019.

The company also secured £4.8bn ($5.8bn) of debt financing for the construction of the LNG export terminal as well as the associated TransCameron Pipeline from a group of Asian, European and North American project finance banks in July 2019.

LNG off-take from Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility

Polish Oil & Gas Company (PGNiG) entered a 20-year gas sales and purchase agreement with Venture Global LNG for the supply of 2Mtpa of LNG from the export terminal, in June 2018.

Another 20-year agreement was signed with Edison for the delivery of 1Mtpa of LNG, in September 2017.

Calcasieu Pass terminal will also deliver LNG to BP Gas Marketing (2Mtpa), Shell NA LNG (2Mtpa), Galp (1Mtpa), and Respol (1Mtpa) for a period of 20 years.

The Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal received approval from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to ship LNG to non-free trade agreement (FTA) countries including Australia, Canada, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Oman, Panama, and Singapore, in March 2019.

Contractors involved

Kiewet was awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the Calcasieu Pass export facility, in December 2018.

GE’s subsidiary Baker Hughes (BHGE), was selected to provide mid-scale, modular, factory-fabricated liquefaction trains for the Calcasieu Pass LNG facility, in February 2017.

BHGE confirmed the award of a contract for providing 18 modularised compression trains across nine liquefaction blocks for the Calcasieu Pass LNG  in August 2019.

Siemens was contracted for the supply of three boil-off gas(BOG) compressor packages, including two centrifugal and one reciprocating BOG compression packages for Calcasieu Pass LNG project in February 2020.

CB&I (now McDermott) was awarded a £152m ($200m) EPC contract for the two LNG storage tanks of the facility, in July 2017.

Providence Engineering, along with Duplantis Design Group, was involved in the permitting process and design for the 130-acre marsh area for the construction of the LNG terminal and pipeline.