Tellurian Inc. said FERC plans to complete an environmental review of its proposed Driftwood liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility near Lake Charles, LA, by October, with operations potentially beginning by 2023, a full two years earlier than originally anticipated.

Last Wednesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a notice of schedule for environmental review for a pair of projects that include constructing a 27.6 million metric ton/year (mmty) LNG export facility, and an associated 96-mile, 4 Bcf/d pipeline [CP17-117, CP17-118]. The projects were proposed last March by Tellurian’s Driftwood LNG LLC and Driftwood Pipeline LLC.

Under the timeline, FERC plans to release a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the projects before the end of June with a final EIS scheduled by Oct. 12. By Jan. 10, 2019, or 90 days later, is the Commission deadline to issue an order to allow construction and authorizing the projects.

Houston-based Tellurian expects to make a final investment decision during the first half of 2019. If the projects move forward, operations could launch in 2023.

When Tellurian first filed the projects with FERC last March, the company anticipated that full operations would begin in 2025. At the time, Tellurian estimated that engineering, procurement, and construction costs would be $13-16 billion for the export facility.

Last month, Tellurian unveiled plans for two pipeline systems: the 625-mile Permian Global Access Pipeline (PGAP) and the 200-mile Haynesville Global Access Pipeline (HGAP). Each 42-inch diameter pipeline have up to 2 Bcf/d of transport capacity and terminate near Gillis, LA. PGAP is to carry gas from the Permian Basin, while HGAP would push more supply from the Haynesville Shale. Each are expected to supplement Tellurian’s LNG export plans.

Tellurian was founded by the co-founder of Cheniere Energy Inc., Charif Souki, and former BG plc executive Martin Houston.