U.S. energy company Glenfarne Group LLC has asked federal energy regulators to give it until November 2029 to put its proposed Texas LNG export plant into service, according to a filing made available on May 28.

Texas LNG is one of more than three dozen LNG export plants being developed in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, some of which have been under development for many years.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved construction of Texas LNG in November 2019. That order gave the company five years, until November 2024, to construct the facility and place it into service.

"We expect this to be approved without impacting the project or its timeline,” Brendan Duval, CEO and founder of Glenfarne Energy Transition, told Reuters.

On average, it costs about $800 per tonne to $1,000 per tonne to build an LNG export plant, so the Texas LNG project would likely cost between $3.2 billion and $4 billion, according to an estimate by Reuters.

Glenfarne said in its FERC filing that the project was delayed due to "extenuating circumstances outside of Texas LNG's control," including litigation by the Sierra Club environmental group challenging FERC's orders authorizing the project and other fights over state permits.

Glenfarne wants to build two liquefaction trains at Texas LNG that together would be able turn about 0.5 Bcf/d of natural gas into about 4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG.

1 Bcf of natural gas is enough to supply about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.

The U.S. is the biggest global LNG exporter and currently has the capacity to produce around 104.6 mtpa of LNG.

In addition to producing LNG for its own power plants, Glenfarne has said it also wants to sell LNG to other companies to help finance its projects.

Glenfarne already has nonbinding LNG supply agreements with units of Swiss commodities trader Gunvor and U.S. energy company EQT, the biggest U.S. gas producer, according to its FERC filing.

Glenfarne is also developing the 8.8-mtpa Magnolia LNG export plant, to be located in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

"Once DOE completes its analysis, we are confident they will see the benefits Magnolia LNG brings to advance the energy transition," Duval added.

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