Freeport LNG has filed an application to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), requesting an authorisation to construct and operate a fourth liquefaction train at its LNG export facility in Freeport (Texas, United States). In the meanwhile, it has also started the front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for the Train 4, which will be designed with a nominal production capacity of 5.1 Mt/year. If approved, Freeport LNG will start construction by the end of 2018 and will commission the LNG train by 2022.
The Freeport LNG terminal initial project includes three liquefaction trains of 5 Mt/year each (cumulated capacity of 15 Mt/year), which are currently under construction, and are scheduled to commence operations sequentially between the fourth quarter in 2018 and the third quarter in 2019.
So far, a 13.4 Mt/year capacity from the first three liquefaction trains has already been contracted under use-or-pay liquefaction tolling agreements with several buyers such as Osaka Gas, JERA (the joint venture of Japanese companies TEPCO and Chubu Electric), BP, Toshiba and SK E&S LNG.