Italian energy company Edison SpA has agreed to buy 1 million tonnes/annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility, which Venture Global is developing in Cameron Parish, LA.

Under terms of an LNG sales and purchase agreement, Edison would buy the equivalent of about 1.4 billion cubic meters/year of natural gas on a free-on-board basis for a 20-year term starting from the commercial operation date of the Calcasieu Pass facility, which is expected in 2021.

Venture Global Calcasieu Pass LLC and TransCameron Pipeline LLC applied at FERC two years ago for authorization to construct the LNG terminal and associated natural gas pipeline laterals [CP15-550]. The projects are proposed by Venture Global LNG Inc.

The U.S. Department of Energy authorized Venture Global Calcasieu Pass LLC to export up to 620 Bcf/year of LNG from the Calcasieu Pass terminal to free trade agreement (FTA) countries.

At that time, Venture Global hoped to deliver LNG to global buyers beginning in 2019.

The company’s current timeline projects approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission early next year, along with Department of Energy authorization for non-FTA exports, and a final investment decision by 2Q2018. If the company moves forward with the project, construction would begin by mid-2018, with commercial operations scheduled to begin in early 2021.

Plans call for the $4.5 billion Calcasieu Pass project to be built on a 506-acre site near where the Calcasieu Ship Channel meets the Gulf of Mexico. It would include two ship-loading berths for LNG vessels, two full-containment LNG storage tanks and an on-site combined-cycle gas turbine power plant.

Calcasieu Pass would have a nameplate capacity of 10.0 mtpa of LNG. TransCameron’s pipeline system would consist of two laterals totaling 43 miles and would be constructed with 42-inch diameter pipe.

In February, Venture filed an application at FERC for a second LNG export terminal and related pipeline project in Louisiana. The 20 mtpa Plaquemines LNG facility would be constructed on a 632-acre site in Plaquemines Parish at river mile marker 55 on the Mississippi River, about 30 miles south of New Orleans.

The facility is expected to include up to three marine loading berths capable of receiving oceangoing LNG carriers up to 185,000 cubic meters in capacity. It would also include a utility dock on the Mississippi River to handle waterborne deliveries of equipment and material during both construction and project operations. A combined-cycle gas turbine power plant with generating capacity of 720 MW also is to be developed; another similar plant is to be added in a second phase.

To deliver natural gas to the project site, Venture Global is proposing to construct two 42-inch diameter pipelines connecting to existing interstate natural gas pipelines.

Venture expects to make a final investment decision on the Plaquemines project in 2019, with Phase 1 commercial operations scheduled for 2022 and full commercial operations a year later.