Delfin Midstream Inc. is seeking an additional five years to complete its LNG export project offshore Louisiana, marking one of the first tests of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) stance on extensions since last year.

For more than a decade, Houston-based Delfin has been developing a proposed export project offshore Louisiana that would use four floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessels with a combined capacity of more than 13 million metric tons/year (mmty).

After signing around 5.6 mmty in tentative or binding offtake agreements, Delfin informed DOE that it has more than covered the capacity of the first FLNG vessel and is on its way to fully marketing the second. However, before it begins construction of the vessel, the company said it would need an extension, with...