Venture Global LNG Prepares Plaquemines Plant for Test-Mode Startup
(Reuters) — Venture Global LNG received a vessel loaded with imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) this week and an authorization from a federal regulator to use nitrogen at its Plaquemines facility in Louisiana, signs of preparations for a test-mode start up.
The permit from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was granted on Friday following the arrival of the fully loaded Malta-flagged vessel Qogir, which departed from Norway.
Venture Global confirmed on social media the tanker’s arrival in Plaquemines, but declined to provide further details. A second LNG tanker, the Liberia-flagged Venture Gator, was on Friday heading up the Mississippi river, according to LSEG data.
The company had requested the permit on Aug. 15, according to the document. Nitrogen can be used to purge a system prior to the introduction of natural gas into an LNG facility to then produce the superchilled gas.
When the Plaquemines plant comes into full operation, Venture Global will become the second largest LNG exporter in the U.S. and the plant will be the second largest U.S. LNG export facility, with a capacity to produce 20 million metric tons per annum (MTPA).
LNG plants under construction, like Plaquemines, use superchilled fuel to test and cool equipment in preparation for startup.
After Plaquemines started pulling in small amounts of natural gas from U.S. pipelines in late June and mid-July, analysts said the plant could start turning gas into LNG in test mode in coming months.
As part of its testing process, Venture Global also sought FERC permission in July to introduce gas to a turbine generator.
Venture Global has said building Plaquemines' two phases would entail an investment of about $21 billion.
Analysts have said they expect Venture Global to complete work on the first 1.8-billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) phase of Plaquemines from 2024 to 2026 and the second 1.2-Bcf/d phase in 2025-2026.
The U.S. is the world's biggest LNG exporter with seven export plants able to produce about 104.6 MTPA. The export capacity is expected to rise to some 129.4 MTPA in mid-2025 as the first phase of Plaquemines and Cheniere Energy's LNG.N expansion at its Corpus Christi, Texas, plant enter service.
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