Partners in the $10bn Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) project have made a final investment decision to move ahead with the LNG project development in Louisiana, US.
Project sponsors, Sempra LNG, GDF Suez, Mitsui and Mitsubishi, through a related company jointly established with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), have approved the investment decision.
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance and a group of 29 commercial banks will provide $7.4bn of financing commitments for the project.
Sempra LNG president Octavio MC Simoes said: "This represents one of the largest project financings in the US."
"Today’s commitments from our project sponsors and international banks put us one step closer to delivering domestic natural gas to America’s trading partners in Europe and Japan."
The project involves construction of three LNG liquefaction and export facilities, each with 12 million tons of annual export capacity from 2018, at the existing LNG terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a conditional authorization to export LNG to non-free-trade-agreement countries, including Japan and European nations.
A final authorization from DOE is anticipated later in 2014.
Sempra Energy will hold 50.2% interest in the Cameron project while the three other partners will each have a 16.6% stake.
Construction on the project is expected to start later in 2014, with the first full year of operations planned in 2019.