U.S. LNG company Venture Global LNG received permission on Feb. 11 from federal energy regulators to load LNG on the first commissioning vessel at the company’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana.
A tanker, the Yiannis, arrived at the plant on Feb. 7 and will now likely be first vessel to pick up a cargo from the facility, according to data from Refinitiv.
Energy traders said they’re hearing that Jera, Japan’s biggest power generator, has chartered the vessel.
Officials at Jera were not available for comment.
Officials at Venture Global have not yet said whether the Yiannis would be the first tanker to pick up LNG at the facility.
After pulling in feed gas from pipelines since around August to test equipment, according to Refinitiv data, Venture Global said Calcasieu started producing LNG around Jan. 19.
Venture Global is installing 18 modular liquefaction trains configured in nine blocks at Calcasieu to produce about 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG, equivalent to about 1.5 Bcf/d of natural gas. Analysts estimate the plant cost about $4.5 billion.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which approved of Venture Global’s request to load LNG on the first vessel, has already approved the commissioning of four blocks at the plant.
In total, Venture Global has about 70 mtpa of LNG export capacity in operation, construction or development in Louisiana, including the 10-mtpa Calcasieu Pass (operation and construction), 20-MTPA Plaquemines (construction), 20-mtpa Delta (development) and 20-mtpa CP2 (development).
Venture Global has already started early site work on the $8.5 billion Plaquemines project, which analysts expect to start producing first LNG around 2024.
Venture Global has entered long-term agreements to sell LNG to units of several companies around the world, including China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), Shell Plc, BP Plc, Edison SpA, Galp Energia SGPS SA and Polish Oil and Gas Co. (PGNiG).
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