
(Source: Shutterstock.com; image of Kinder Morgan’s LNG plant at Elba Island, Ga., courtesy of Google Earth)
U.S. energy regulators on Aug. 27 granted Kinder Morgan Inc.'s request to put in service the 10th and final liquefaction train at the company's nearly $2 billion Elba Island LNG export plant in Georgia.
Kinder Morgan said on Aug. 20 that Train 7 would be ready for service on Aug. 27, according to filings with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Trains 1-6 and 8-10 were already available, with Train 1 entering service in October 2019 and Train 10 in August 2020.
Each train is capable of liquefying about 0.3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG or 0.04 Bcf/d of natural gas.
The first export cargo from Elba left in December. Elba, however, has not exported a cargo since January as government steps to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus have sapped global energy demand.
Elba, which is 51% owned by units of Kinder Morgan and 49% by EIG Global Energy Partners, is designed to liquefy about 2.5 MTPA of LNG, equivalent to around 0.35 Bcf/d of natural gas.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc has a 20-year contract to use the facility.
Including projects under construction, U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to rise from 9.8 Bcf/d now to 10.5 Bcf/d by the end of 2021 and 12.5 Bcf/d by the end of 2022.
That keeps the U.S. on track to become the world's biggest LNG exporter in 2024. It became the third-biggest exporter in 2019, behind Qatar and Australia.
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