Cheniere Energy has initiated a project to install liquefaction services at the Sabine Pass LNG receiving terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.  Adding liquefaction capabilities will transform the Sabine Pass terminal into a bi-directional facility capable of liquefying and exporting natural gas in addition to importing and regasifying foreign-sourced LNG.  Due to the abundance of supply and the existing pipeline infrastructure in both Texas and Louisiana, Cheniere believes it can provide an additional outlet for U.S. natural gas production while offering a stable source of supply for global buyers.

The Sabine Pass site can readily accommodate up to 4 LNG trains capable of processing approximately 2 Bcf/d of natural gas.  The nominal capacity of each liquefaction train would be approximately 4.5 million tons per annum (mtpa).  The initial project would include two trains with liquefaction capacity of approximately 1 Bcf/d.  Further expansion would be considered based upon customer interest.

Cheniere estimates that construction of the liquefaction capacity is comparable to expansion economics, since the Sabine Pass terminal already has many of the facilities required for an export terminal.  Cheniere’s bi-drectional service would use its existing infrastructure, including five storage tanks and two berths at the Sabine Pass terminal, as well as Cheniere’s 94-mile Creole Trail Pipeline, which would be reconfigured as a bi-directional system.  The 853-acre Sabine Pass site is strategically situated to provide export services given its large acreage position, proximity to unconventional gas plays in Louisiana and Texas, its interconnections with multiple interstate and intrastate pipeline systems, and its premier marine access less than 4 miles from the Gulf Coast. 

Sabine Pass Liquefaction Expansion Project

Access to Gas Supply

Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, is ideally situated to capitalize on continued unconventional gas development.  The Gulf Coast and Midcontinent regions contain five of the six major US shale plays, including the Barnett, Haynesville, Woodford, Fayetteville/Arkoma, and Eagle Ford, and three of the largest tight-sands plays, including the East Texas, Anadarko and Gulf Coast plays.  The natural gas productive capacity in this region therefore represents a major portion of current and future U.S. production. Advanced Resources International, in a report commissioned for Cheniere's DOE filing, states that in 2010 about half of U.S. unconventional productive capacity (nearly 19 Bcfd) was sourced from the Gulf Coast/Mid-Continent corridor.

A number of large-diameter interstate pipelines have been built in recent years to connect these emerging unconventional basins to major gas market hubs, particularly in the Perryville area of northeastern Louisiana.  The Sabine Pass LNG Terminal can deliver to and potentially receive natural gas from eleven interstate and intrastate pipeline systems in the Gulf Coast.  These pipelines will allow Sabine Pass and its customers to purchase and receive gas from the emerging unconventional basins, as well as the historically prolific Gulf Coast Texas and Louisiana onshore gas fields.

U.S. Gas Pipeline System

LNG is the fastest-growing component of the global natural gas market, increasing at a 6% annual rate over the last decade. For countries that lack indigenous natural gas resources and delivery infrastructure, LNG represents a rapid and cost-effective means of introducing natural gas into their local fuel mix. Currently there are 25 LNG-importing countries in Europe, Asia, South America, Central America, North America and the Middle East, up from 17 importing countries in 2007.  Numerous developing countries, including Poland, Croatia, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Colombia, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Lebanon, among others, are considering plans to build new LNG terminals and enter the global LNG trade.