The United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) has issued the Notice of Schedule for Environmental Review (“SER”) to Texas LNG Brownsville LLC (“Texas LNG”) setting the anticipated dates for issuance of its Final Environmental Impact Statement (“FEIS”) and Federal Authorization Decision Deadline for Texas LNG’s proposed 2 train, 4 million tonnes per annum (“MTA”) LNG export facility located in the Port of Brownsville, Texas.
The FEIS and Federal Authorization Decision Deadline are the final major steps in the FERC process before issuance of the FERC Order. Based on the FEIS date and timelines of other approved LNG export projects, Texas LNG expects to receive its Final FERC Order authorizing construction and operation of its facility in the second half of 2019, in accordance with previously announced recent estimates.
The SER is an important milestone as it communicates FERC’s high confidence schedule for Texas LNG’s completion of the National Environmental Policy Act process, and for all agencies involved in federal permitting approval to complete their review. As per FERC’s expected timeline, Texas LNG will receive its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“DEIS”) in October 2018, and FEIS by March 15, 2019. Other agencies issuing federal authorizations have 90 days to complete all necessary reviews and to reach a final decision on the request for a federal authorization. The Federal Authorization Decision Deadline is June 13, 2019.
Vivek Chandra, Founder & CEO of Texas LNG said, “We are pleased to receive this very important notice and would like to thank the FERC and all the supporting agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Federal Aviation Administration, that have been involved in the process. We are confident the Texas LNG project will provide benefits for all our stakeholders, especially the Brownsville community, and look forward to progressing toward Final Investment Decision (“FID”) for the first 2 MTA train in 2019, and construction beginning soon thereafter.”
Langtry Meyer, Founder & COO of Texas LNG stated, “FERC’s schedule provides clarity to Texas LNG stakeholders including LNG buyers and investors that Texas LNG will receive its final FERC approval and is on track to achieving Final Investment Decision in 2019. We are particularly proud that we have reached this milestone by diligently deploying our resources cost effectively thereby providing superior value to our investors.”
Estimated Texas LNG Project Timeline
MilestoneExpected Timeframe
Draft Environmental Impact StatementOctober 2018
Final Environmental Impact StatementMarch 2019
Federal Authorization Decision DeadlineJune 2019
Final Investment Decision (FID)Late 2019
Commence ConstructionEarly 2020
Begin Operations (Phase 1, 2 MTA)2023/2024
Courtesy of Texas LNG
An artist impression of the proposed Texas LNG facility.
Texas LNG has secured long-term offtake MOU/term sheets from LNG buyers in China, Southeast Asia and Europe, and will begin pre-FID Detailed Engineering with Samsung Engineering and KBR upon closing of its final Pre-FID development capital funding round which is currently underway.
The FERC Notice of Schedule for Environmental Review can be downloaded through the following link: https://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/opennat.asp?fileID=15013565 or from the Texas LNG website: http://www.txlng.com/theproject/regulatory-updates.html
