More US LNG coming to market in mid-April with start-up of commercial ops at Calcasieu Pass

U.S.-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project developer Venture Global has disclosed a date for the beginning of commercial operations at its LNG export project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, south of Lake Charles, United States.  

Venture Global claims its Calcasieu Pass facility, which will kick off commercial operations on April 15, 2025, will achieve its commercial operation date (COD) in under 68 months from its final investment decision (FID), taken in August 2019.

This project milestone is being reached despite substantial impacts from the hurdles that stood in its path such as two hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and major unforeseen manufacturing issues, including the heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) forming part of the facility’s power island.

The company highlighted: “Venture Global wishes to express its gratitude to its construction and completion teams who tirelessly worked to safely complete our facilities, to our vendor teams who provided invaluable support for the necessary repairs, and to our government regulators, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, for their oversight and cooperation.

“These efforts now allow us to supply our long-term customers with the full 20-year contract term of the lowest-cost, clean LNG as promised under our contracts, and, with our COD, makes Calcasieu Pass among the fastest greenfield LNG projects completed.”

As Venture Global’s first facility, Calcasieu Pass began producing LNG in January 2022. The 1,000-acre site, located where the Calcasieu Ship Channel meets the Gulf of Mexico, is designed to export 10 metric tons per year (mtpa) of LNG per year. An additional 60 million mtpa of production capacity is also being developed in Louisiana.

The second facility, Plaquemines LNG, produced its first LNG in December 2024 and the first LNG cargo departed for Germany at the end of the same month. With an export capacity of up to 20 million metric tons per year, the 630-acre Plaquemines LNG site on the Mississippi River is an LNG export facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, about 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) south of New Orleans.

The firm’s third facility, CP2 LNG, got a positive final environmental impact statement (FEIS) from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in July 2023. The FERC recently prepared a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) to address the arguments raised on rehearing to set aside prior order for the CP2 LNG and CP Express pipeline.

The CP2 LNG terminal facility will be on Monkey Island between the Calcasieu Ship Channel and Calcasieu Pass. The CP Express pipeline will originate in Jasper County, Texas, and feed natural gas to the proposed LNG facility in Cameron Parish.

With a nameplate liquefaction capacity of 20 million metric tonnes per annum of LNG and a peak capacity of approximately 24 mtpa, the CP2 LNG terminal will be adjacent to the Calcasieu Pass LNG facility in Cameron Parish. Venture Global is developing carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects at its LNG facilities to curb the carbon footprint from operations.

The company also made a move to get a hold of a fleet of nine LNG-powered vessels, currently under construction in South Korea, to advance the integration of its business across the entire LNG supply chain.