Sabine Pass LNG berth expansion gets positive FERC environmental review

Houston-based LNG exporter Cheniere Energy has received a positive environmental assessment from the FERC for a marine berth expansion project at its Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana.

The project should allow Cheniere to add 180 LNG cargoes annually, increasing the total to 580 LNG cargoes per year.

The FERC determined in an environmental assessment from August 23 that the approval of a third berth expansion project would not have major environmental impacts if the developer complies with recommended construction and mitigation measures.

Cheniere Energy proposed to build the new berth at the existing Sabine Pass LNG terminal. The project would also include an LNG loading system.

The terminal currently has a single marine basin with two vessel berths, each capable of supporting LNG carriers with capacities up to 266,000 cbm.

According to Sabine Pass LNG, the purpose of the berth project is to accommodate an increased number of carriers arriving at the terminal.

The expansion would help minimize delays caused by adverse weather or ship traffic and would allow for LNG production optimization by removing bottlenecks associated with LNG loading and marine constraints.

It is worth reminding that Cheniere made a final investment decision in June for the construction of the sixth liquefaction train at Sabine Pass. In March, Cheniere achieved substantial completion of Train 5 at the terminal.