Annova LNG has filed at FERC for authorization to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal on the Brownsville Ship Channel in Cameron County, TX. It is one of several such projects proposed for the area.

“The mid-scale size of the facility will meet the requirements of multiple foreign purchasers whose annual demand is best met with increments of 1 million tons per annum (mtpa),” Annova told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [CP16-480]. The project will include six liquefaction trains, each with a nameplate capacity of 1.0 mtpa, for an aggregate nameplate capacity of 6 mtpa and a maximum output at optimal operating conditions of 6.95 mtpa.”

The terminal would receive gas supply from a third-party intrastate pipeline running from Kingsville to Brownsville, TX, planned to be constructed in 2021. Annova, a unit of Exelon Corp., would take custody of the gas from the pipeline at the outlet of the interconnection facilities that the intrastate pipeline operator would construct and operate within the LNG project site.

Annova filed in fall 2013 for its export authorization with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (see Daily GPI, Oct. 10, 2013). In July the following year DOE approved an Annova affiliate for 7 mtpa of exports to free trade agreement (FTA) countries. In 2015 Annova made its pre-filing review request at the Commission (see Daily GPI, March 11, 2015).

The company asked that the Commission approve its application by March 30, 2018.

Annova said it intends to begin site preparation in the second quarter of 2018 and to begin construction in the third quarter of 2018. The project would be commissioned and operated in three stages of two trains each. The first stage is expected to begin commissioning in the second quarter of 2021, the second stage in the third quarter of 2021, and the third stage in the fourth quarter of 2021. Commercial operation for the first stage is anticipated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2021, for the second stage in the first quarter of 2022, and for the third stage in second quarter of 2022.

Separately earlier this year, Texas LNG Brownsville LLC filed at FERC for its 4 mtpa export terminal proposed for the Port of Brownsville (see Daily GPI, March 31). And last May, NextDecade LLC filed at the Commission for its 27 mtpa terminal, which also would be sited at the Port of Brownsville, along with an associated 137-mile pipeline system from the Agua Dulce Hub (see Daily GPI, May 6).

Growing amounts of LNG have been shipped from the Gulf Coast already, with Cheniere’s Sabine Pass facility sending cargoes to Argentina, Brazil, India, Portugal and United Arab Emirates this year.