The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last week granted non-free trade agreement (FTA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) export authority for the Magnolia LNG project, which is planned for Lake Charles, LA.

DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) previously issued two orders authorizing Magnolia to export to FTA countries. Each of these orders authorized the export of 197.1 Bcf of natural gas per year (0.54 Bcf/d). The latest FE order authorizing non-FTA exports is for 394.2 Bcf per year and is not additive to the previously authorized FTA export volume, DOE said.

Magnolia applied for the project with FERC in April 2014, and later Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline LLC filed a related application to add pipeline compression facilities (the Lake Charles Expansion Project) to serve the Magnolia terminal. Both projects were approved by FERC last April.

The project is being developed by Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd. (LNGL) of Australia. Greg Vesey, LNGL CEO, said the latest DOE export approval for Magnolia “…is the final piece of the regulatory framework enabling our Magnolia LNG project to export U.S.-produced natural gas to the global energy market.” He said the company is working on the final offtake agreements for the project.

LNGL is also the parent of Bear Head LNG Corp., the developer of an LNG export project in Nova Scotia, and Bear Paw Pipeline Corp., Inc., which is developing an associated pipeline for that project.

Separately, DOE FE recently granted non-FTA export authorization to Carib Energy (USA) LLC for the containerized export of up to 1.3 Bcf per year of LNG. Carib plans to export to countries within Central America, South America and the Caribbean. LNG for export is to be purchased from Pivotal LNG Inc. The company intends to export from the ports of Jacksonville, FL; Port Everglades, FL; Gulfport, MS; and any other southeastern U.S. ports capable of handling containerized LNG.