Natural gas deliveries to U.S. facilities producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export set a monthly high record in July, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Monday.
The EIA quoted data from OPIS PointLogic Energy as reporting that U.S. natural gas deliveries for producing LNG for export averaged 6.0 billion cubic feet (169.9 million cubic meters) per day, accounting for 7 percent of the total U.S. dry natural gas production.
Natural gas delivered by pipelines to Mexico and U.S. LNG export facilities reached 10.9 billion cubic feet (308.7 million cubic meters) per day in July and averaged 10.0 billion cubic feet (283.2 million cubic meters) per day in the first seven months of this year, up by 30 percent compared to the same period of 2018.
The United States has been exporting more natural gas than it imports on an annual basis since 2017, and the EIA expects that U.S. natural gas exports will continue to increase as new LNG facilities come online.
In the first half of 2019, two new liquefaction trains came online. Current total U.S. LNG export capacity stands at 5.4 billion cubic feet (152.9 million cubic meters) per day across four facilities and nine liquefaction trains.
Meanwhile, Venture Global LNG, Inc. on Monday announced the closing of the project financing for the company's Calcasieu Pass LNG facility and associated TransCameron pipeline in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Full site construction has been underway since February 2019, and the project is expected to reach its Commercial Operations Date (COD) in 2022.
Venture Global LNG Co-CEOs Mike Sabel and Bob Pender jointly said, "Our goal has always been to lower the cost of electricity by delivering clean, low-cost LNG to the world."
The lender group for the company's 5.8 billion U.S. dollars construction financing includes the world's leading Asian, European and North American project finance banks, and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Limited is among the lenders.
The project has 20-year LNG sale and purchase agreements with energy companies. Venture Global LNG is also developing the 20 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) Plaquemines LNG project and the 20 MTPA Delta LNG project, both in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
Venture Global LNG is a long-term, low-cost provider of LNG to be supplied from resource-rich North American natural gas basins.
Editor:Cherie
