October 12, 2023 [LNG Prime]- US LNG exporter Venture Global is seeking approval from the US FERC to put in service liquefaction blocks 7-9 at its Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana.

Calcasieu Pass produced its first LNG on January 19, 2022, moving from FID to LNG production in 29 months, and the first commissioning cargo left the facility on March 1.

In July last year, Venture Global received FERC approval to introduce fluids into the block 9 liquefaction modules at its Calcasieu Pass plant.

With this, Venture Global received approvals to commission all the 18 modular units configured in 9 blocks.

However, the US firm has not yet declared commercial operations at the facility and some of its customers launched arbitration proceedings due to the delay.

Calcasieu Pass has contracts with Shell, BP, Edison, Galp, Repsol, PGNiG, Sinopec’s unit Unipec, as well as CNOOC.

Blocks 7-9

In May last year, Venture Global sought approval from FERC to put in service the first four liquefaction blocks at its Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana and in July the firm requested approval to put in service the fifth and the sixth liquefaction blocks.

Venture Global Calcasieu Pass said in a filling dated October 10 that the FERC staff issued approval to introduce hazardous fluids to liquefaction block 7 A/B on May 25, 2022; to liquefaction block 8 on June 10, 2022; and to liquefaction block 9 on July 22, 2022.

According to the company, Calcasieu Pass produced first LNG on June 1, 2022 from block 7A; on June 2, 2022 from block 7B; on June 13, 2022 from block 8A; on June 14, 2022 from block 8B; on July 31, 2022 from block 9A; and on July 30, 2022 from block 9B.

“Given the completion of these specific commissioning operations, Calcasieu Pass respectfully requests authorization to place blocks 7-9 in-service,” it said.

Calcasieu Pass requests approval of this in-service request by no later than October 17, 2023.

“As additional systems and components of the terminal are completed and fully commissioned, Calcasieu Pass will be submitting additional requests to place those specific systems and components in-service,” the firm said.

“Phased commissioning process”

Eearlier this year, Venture Global said that “Calcasieu Pass’s commissioning process has looked different than any other American LNG facility to come before it.”

“In particular, because of its modular, midscale design and on-site power generation (among other reasons), the facility requires substantial testing and a phased commissioning process before it can be expected to be fully operational and confirmed to be prepared to reliably meet its long-term contractual obligations,” Venture Global said.

While Calcasieu Pass is able to produce LNG, it remains in the commissioning phase because it continues to face “periodic reliability challenges impacting the facility,” it said.

This issue was demonstrated and reported through the failure of the reliability test of the power island reported to FERC last Fall, Venture Global said.

LNG plants

Calcasieu Pass is Venture Global’s first LNG export plant.

In March, the firm took a final investment decision for the second phase of its Plaquemines LNG export plant in Louisiana.

The full project, including the second stage, will have a capacity of 20 mtpa coming from 36 modular units, configured in 18 blocks.

Venture Global also expects to start construction of its CP2 LNG facility later this year following receipt of FERC authorization.

To date, Venture Global sold 9.25 Mtpa of CP2 LNG’s 20 Mtpa nameplate capacity under 20-year sales and purchase agreements.

The CP2 LNG plant will be located next to Venture Global’s existing Calcasieu Pass liquefaction plant in Louisiana.

It will have 18 liquefaction blocks, each with a capacity of about 1.1 Mtpa of LNG, but also four 200,000-cbm full containment LNG storage tanks.

Besides these three projects, Venture Global is also developing the Delta LNG export facility with a nameplate capacity of 20 Mtpa in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

It previously said it plans to build the facility in two phases, each consisting of 10 Mtpa.

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