Plaquemines plant’s first LNG shipment on its way to Germany

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project developer Venture Global has sent off the first LNG cargo from its export facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

The inaugural LNG shipment is headed to Germany’s EnBW onboard LNG carrier Venture Global Bayou, marking what the U.S. player says is over 60 LNG cargos sent from Venture to Germany since 2022. This comes less than two weeks after the plant reached its first production on December 14.

Described as one of the firm’s nine new LNG ships, the 290-meter long Venture Global Bayou is a 174,000 cubic meter LNG carrier built at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard in Korea. It was launched by Schulte Marine Group in October 2023 and delivered to SHI in July 2024.

“I am extremely proud of our team whose relentless execution has enabled Venture Global to continue to meet milestones at exceptional speed. In just five years, Venture Global has built, produced and launched exports from two large-scale LNG projects which has never been done before in the history of the industry,” said Venture Global CEO, Mike Sabel. 

Once fully operational, Plaquemines LNG stands to be among the largest facilities in the world, featuring 36 electrically-driven 0.626 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) liquefaction trains, configured in eighteen blocks. Its total nameplate capacity will be 20 mtpa. The natural gas will be stored in four 200,000 cubic-meter (cbm) full containment storage tanks. Several approvals for the plant to start operation were secured in July.

The final investment decision (FID) for the terminal’s first phase was reached in May 2022 and for the second phase in March 2023. The developer says the unique configuration and construction approach will allow the new terminal to produce and export LNG while construction and commissioning continue for the remaining trains and associated facilities.

Meanwhile, EnBw recently signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with ADNOC for gas from its lower-carbon Ruwais liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. This formalized the heads of agreement (HoA) the duo inked in May.