Tellurian Inc. will begin building its 27.6-million tonne/year (tpy) Driftwood LNG liquefaction plant in Calcasieu Parish, La., in April 2022, regardless of whether full Phase 1 financing is in place, according to executive chairman Charif Souki. Souki made the remarks in a video posted to Tellurian’s website Feb. 1.
Driftwood LNG would use 20 1.38-million tpy trains developed in five 4-train blocks to reach its maximum planned capacity. Phase 1 (11 million tpy) includes the first two of these blocks, two (of three planned) 235,000-cu m storage tanks, and the first of three planned loading berths.
Bechtel Oil, Gas, and Chemicals Inc. in 2017 signed four lump-sum, fixed-price contracts worth a total of $15.2 billion for engineering, procurement, and construction of Driftwood LNG. Tellurian has 10-year offtake agreements in place totaling 9 million tpy with Shell NA LNG, Vitol Inc., and Gunvor Singapore Pte. Ltd. (OGJ Online, July 30, 2021).
In January 2022 the Sierra Club and a coalition of Louisiana-based environmental groups petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency to deny Driftwood’s operating permit, citing flaws in the process.
