A former executive of BG Group plc on Tuesday said his recently formed company will pursue a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Louisiana, one day after UK-based BG Group said it was delaying a decision on the Louisiana LNG project it is pursuing with Energy Transfer Partners LP.

Live Oak LNG is a unit of Parallax Energy, which was formed last year by former BG Group COO Martin Houston. He said at the time that the companies would pursue arbitrage opportunities to be derived from positions in U.S. shale plays and LNG (see Daily GPI, Oct. 24, 2014). Houston has been credited for an instrumental role in creating BG Group’s LNG business.

Live Oak’s mid-sized LNG project is being designed for up to five million tonnes per annum of production and would include two 130,000 cubic-foot storage tanks, as well as port facilities with a jetty for standard size LNG carriers. The proposed site is about 350 acres and is within Calcasieu Parish on the west bank of the Calcasieu River. Initial study work is under way for the $2 billion project, and Live Oak said it will begin the permitting process within the next few weeks. The anticipated start-up of the plant is in late 2019.

While at BG Group, Houston helped develop the LNG import terminal at Lake Charles, LA, the same terminal from which BG Group and Energy Transfer plan to one day export LNG (see Daily GPI, March 26, 2014). However in its earnings release Monday, BG Group said it was moving back by about a year the date for a final investment decision on the project. “The Lake Charles project remains one of the most competitive new supply sources for LNG, benefiting from existing infrastructure and access to a highly developed and liquid gas market,” BG Group said. “The group continues to monitor the commodity price environment and any impact this may have on construction costs. BG Group now expects a sanction decision for the project in 2016.”

In announcing the Live Oak project, Houston cited his work on the Lake Charles import and regasification terminal, adding that Louisiana is receptive to such investments.

“In addition to having Louisiana’s support, we are well positioned as a company to succeed with this project,” Houston said of the planned Live Oak terminal. “Our team has over 100 years of LNG experience; our project is well researched; we are fully funded through to final investment decision, and we are supported by world class experts and suppliers.”

Live Oak has awarded Bechtel a contract for the pre-engineering design, and Chart Industries has been selected for the process design work.

“The global demand for affordable, American-produced liquefied natural gas is on the rise,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said, “and Calcasieu Parish is ideally situated to serve that market with its deepwater ports and access to natural gas supplies.”