FERC has granted Cameron LNG LLC, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, additional year to complete and place into serve the expansion of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Hackberry, LA.

In approving the project in January 2007, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave the company until January 2011 to put the facilities in service (see Daily GPI, Jan. 19, 2007). In September Cameron LNG requested that the in-service date for the expansion be extended to January 2015 because “current market conditions have dictated that [it] temporarily defer construction of the expansion facilities.”

In an order issued Tuesday, the Commission gave Cameron LNG “until and including Jan. 18, 2012” to have the expansion in service.

Cameron LNG plans to expand the sendout capacity of the terminal to about 2.65 Bcf/d from its existing 1.5 Bcf/d. The sendout capacity of the expanded terminal would be about 1.8 Bcf/d on an interim basis, ramping up to the full 2.65 Bcf/d [CP06-422]. The existing terminal facilities went into operation in July 2009.

“Although the expansion facilities were originally designed for the purpose of providing baseload use (i.e., LNG received at the terminal would be sent out at high-delivery rates within a short period of time of its receipt), it is now likely that the expansion facilities will serve more of a storage function,” Cameron LNG told FERC in September.

Earlier this month affiliate Sempra LNG Marketing LLC received authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy (DOE/FE) to begin exporting previously imported LNG from the Cameron LNG terminal beginning Feb. 1 (see Daily GPI, Dec. 9). The company has DOE/FE clearance to re-export up to 250 Bcf total over a two-year period.

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