The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued two long-term orders authorizing a total of 500 MMcfd of additional natural gas exports from 18-million tonne/year (tpy) Golden Pass LNG in Sabine Pass, Tex., and 8.8-million tpy Magnolia LNG in Lake Charles, La. The orders allow Golden Pass to export an additional 350 MMcfd and Magnolia to export an additional 150 MMcfd to any country not prohibited by US law or policy.
DOE had previously issued long-term non-free trade agreement (FTA) export orders for the majority of the projects’ capacities: Magnolia LNG’s 1.08 bcfd in 2016 and Golden Pass LNG’s 2.21 bcfd in 2017. The new orders align the projects’ respective export authorizations to additional capacity the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved for the projects.
Golden Pass, jointly owned by ExxonMobil Corp. and Qatar Petroleum International Ltd., is under construction, with first exports expected in 2024. Magnolia LNG, owned by the Glenfarne Group LLC, is still in its planning stages but expected to begin production by 2026.
US LNG exports have recently reached new highs of about 12 bcfd and are expected to grow to more than 13 bcfd by end 2022 as additional export capacity comes online. In 2024, when construction on Golden Pass LNG—the eighth US LNG export plant—is completed, US LNG peak export capacity will further increase to an estimated 16.3 bcfd (OGJ Online, Dec. 9, 2021).