FERC last Tuesday approved Cameron LNG LLC’s request to move up an interim expansion of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal facility, which is under construction in Hackberry, LA.

In February, Cameron LNG asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to amend a certificate issued in January, which approved the company’s proposed expansion of the terminal’s send-out rate to 2.65 Bcf/d from 1.5 Bcf/d, and an interim increase in the facility’s send-out rate to 1.8 Bcf/d “while the expansion project facilities are under construction.” Specifically, the company sought permission to change the timing of the 1.8 Bcf/d increase in send-out rate to “before, rather than during, the construction of the expansion facilities.”

Cameron LNG “requests this modification so that customers can benefit from the initial vaporization capabilities of the LNG terminal as soon as practicable,” the order noted [CP06-422-001]. “Cameron LNG explains that it should not have qualified its request in its previous application to increase the send-out rate to up to 1.8 Bcf of natural gas per day with the phrase ‘while the expansion project facilities are under construction.'”

FERC staff “has determined that Cameron LNG has the ability to increase the send-out rate of its facility to 1.8 Bcf of natural gas per day, irrespective of the construction of the expansion facilities authorized by the January 2007 order,” the order noted. “The installed spare send-out pumps and the design margin of the previously authorized, installed vaporization equipment, with the modifications authorized by the Commission’s previous orders, can attain the increased send-out rate of up to 1.8 Bcf per day.”

Commercial operations at Cameron LNG are expected to begin in 2008. The 2.65 Bcf/d expansion project is targeted for in-service in October 2010 (see NGI, Jan. 22).

The expansion also would include the addition of a fourth LNG storage tank, bringing the storage capability of the facility to 640,000 cubic meters. In addition, the project would increase the LNG unloading rate at each berth from 12,000 cubic meters per hour to 17,500 cubic meters per hour, and would include facilities to produce and inject inert gas into the exiting gas stream as an optional method of controlling its heat content.

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