US approves sixth LNG terminal
25 Mar 2014
A sixth US liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal has gained conditional approval to export to countries without a free trade agreement.
The Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Oregon, US has been granted conditional approval from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to export LNG to countries without a free trade agreement with the US.
Jordan Cove, which is the sixth such terminal to gain DOE approval after projects such as Cameron LNG in Louisiana and Cove Point LNG in Maryland, will be capable of exporting the equivalent of up to 0.8 billion standard cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas, for a period of 20 years.
The LNG terminal in Oregon, the first on the US west coast, is currently subject to ongoing environmental review and final regulatory approval. It will only fail to meet full authorisation to export to countries without a free trade agreement with US if the DOE finds that the proposed exports will not be consistent with the public interest.
The approval of such export licences in the US could play a vital role in the import of gases into new terminals within the UK.
In December of last year Ineos Petrochemicals confirmed it had selected the location of an ethane tank it plans to build as part of a US shale gas import facility at Grangemouth.
The ethane tank and new terminal will allow Ineos to import shale gas from the US to supplement declining North Sea feed stocks essential for the Grangemouth site.
Once both the tank and terminal are completed, Grangemouth will have the capacity to be the first chemical plant in the UK to receive US shale gases. The chemicals firm is already set to be the first in Europe to import shale gases from the US, as it is close to completing a tank and terminal at its Rafnes plant in Norway.
