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Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG), the developer of the first U.S. liquefied natural gas export terminal in decades, received authorization to build a second one.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it will allow Cheniere to build an LNG plant and pipeline in Corpus Christi, Texas, according to a filing today.
The permit paves the away for the U.S. Department of Energy to consider if the project can ship LNG to countries with which the U.S. doesn’t have a free trade agreement.
Based on new DOE protocols for approving exports from LNG terminals, Cheniere’s Corpus Christi project would move to the front of a line of more than three dozen applications that have not yet received FERC approval, said Chris McDougall, an analyst for Westlake Securities LLC in Austin, Texas.
“They have already secured financing commitments and this is the major regulatory approval from a difficulty standpoint,” McDougall said. “It’s going to be relatively easy for the DOE to approve these projects.”
Cheniere is set to be the first company to export gas produced from the U.S. shale boom beginning in late 2015. The company’s Sabine Pass terminal under construction in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, is expected to begin operating as early as October 2015, Cheniere Chief Executive Officer Charif Souki said in an interview on Oct. 14.
The Corpus Christi terminal would have the capability to liquefy and ship as much as 15 million metric tons of LNG a year, according to the filing. Cheniere’s current plans are for a facility with the capacity to ship 13.5 million metric tons per year on more than 1,000 acres in Corpus Christi.
Cheniere, which is up 65 percent for the year, fell 2.5 percent to $71.08 in New York today.
