Venture Global wants to expand its Plaquemines LNG export facility by 24.8 million metric tons per annum (mtpa), almost 6 mtpa more than it originally proposed just four months ago, according to a regulatory filing issued late on Monday.
Venture Global is already constructing the United States’ second-largest LNG plant in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, and on March 6, announced plans to expand the facility by an initial 18.6 mtpa. It is now asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to increase the expansion to 24.8 mtpa, the filing shows.
Venture Global has been able to quickly build and ramp up production from its LNG facilities. It has played a key role in keeping the U.S. the world’s largest exporter of the superchilled gas and last month was responsible for a quarter of all U.S. LNG exports, according to preliminary data from financial firm LSEG.
“As a result of this modification, the proposed production capacity of the project has increased from approximately 18.6 million tonnes per annum to approximately 24.8 mtpa,” Venture Global told FERC.
Venture Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As a result of the increased size of the proposed project Venture Global wants permission to utilize an additional 586-acre area to the east of the previously submitted project footprint, according to the FERC filing.
Venture Global has in production and under construction 40 mtpa of LNG and is nearing a financial decision on another plant, CP2, that is expected to add 28 mtpa of LNG for export. If its planned expansion of Plaquemines goes ahead, it could export 92 mtpa by the turn of the decade, making it one of the three top LNG producers in the world.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)