(Reuters) The U.S. Department of Energy said on Friday it had granted Energy Transfer additional time to start exports from the Lake Charles LNG facility under its non-Free Trade Agreement export permit.
"On the heels of President Trump’s historic trade negotiations, demand for secure, reliable American LNG is surging," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a press release announcing the extension.
Once fully constructed, the Lake Charles LNG project will be capable of exporting up to 2.33 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas as LNG, according to the release.
Lake Charles LNG was originally configured as an LNG import terminal, but is now being developed as an LNG export terminal. Recently, the company signed several long-term LNG off-take contracts, including agreements with Chevron and Kyushu Electric Power Company.
The United States is the largest global producer and exporter of natural gas. There are currently eight large-scale LNG projects operating in the United States and several additional projects are expanding or under construction. Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department has approved applications from projects that will export more than 13.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas as LNG, a volume greater than the world’s second-largest LNG-exporting nation is exporting today.
