Ferc Clears Cove Point to Export Early Volumes
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) on November 13 authorized Dominion Energy to export commissioning volumes of LNG from its 5.25mn tons/yr Cove Point export terminal in Maryland.
The authorization does not constitute approval to commence full service, Ferc said in its letter authorizing the exports.
In previous submissions to Ferc regarding Cove Point, Dominion Energy suggested that commissioning volumes would not exceed 250bn ft3, and that any exports of those volumes could be delayed by up to six months.
Production from Cove Point, which can process up to 750mn ft3/day of inlet gas, has been fully subscribed under 20-year terminal service agreements to Sumitomo’s Pacific Summit Energy and Indian Gail's subsidiary GAIL Global (USA) LNG.
Analysts expect Cove Point to become the second LNG venture in the US Lower-48 of modern times to begin exports, after Cheniere's Sabine Pass which started up mid-2016. But Cove Point began its life as an import terminal chiefly of Algerian LNG in 1978-80, followed a gap of over two decades, until it resumed LNG imports in 2003 on behalf of Statoil and Shell until the US shale gas boom later that decade.
Dale Lunan