U.S. OKs start of seventh unit at Kinder Morgan Georgia Elba LNG export plant
U.S. energy regulators approved Kinder Morgan Inc’s request to put the seventh liquefaction train at its nearly $2 billion Elba Island LNG export plant in Georgia into service.
Kinder Morgan said Train 8 was ready for service on July 13, according to a filing with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Trains 1-6 are already in service, with Train 1 entering service in October and Train 6 in April. Each train is capable of liquefying about 0.3 million tons per year (MMtpy) of LNG.
The company said Unit 7, 9 and 10 were in various stages of commissioning.
The first export cargo from Elba left in December. Elba, however, has not exported a cargo since January as government steps to reduce the spread of coronavirus have cut global energy demand.
Elba, which is 51% owned by units of Kinder Morgan and 49% by EIG Global Energy Partners, is designed to liquefy about 2.5 MMtpy of LNG, equivalent to around 0.350 billion cubic feet per day (bcfpd) of natural gas.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc has a 20-year contract to use the facility.
Including projects under construction, U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to rise to 9.8 bcfd by the end of 2020 and 10.5 bcfpd by the end of 2021 from 9.7 bcfpd currently.
That keeps the United States on track to become the world’s biggest LNG exporter in 2024. It became the third-biggest LNG exporter in 2019, behind Qatar and Australia.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Jonathan Oatis

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