Downeast LNG submits pre-filing request with FERC

Downeast LNG (DELNG) submitted its pre-filing request on July 23 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to develop an estimated $2 billion bi-directional LNG facility at its proposed location in Robbinston, Maine.

The facility will be able to liquefy natural gas for export as LNG and regasify imported LNG, as the market requires.

This latest federal filing moves the proposed project forward. The facility will have the ability to produce up to 3 million tons of LNG per annum beginning in 2019-2020 for LNG buyers through a tolling model. Given market interest DELNG increased capacity by one million tons per annum. As compared to other LNG projects proposed in the U.S., DELNG will offer LNG buyers an opportunity to access Canadian and USA gas reserves, with gas committed under a fixed price contract or floating index.

“This is an important step in our plans to have an LNG facility in Downeast, Maine,” said DELNG president and founder Dean Girdis. “Once the bi-directional facility is online, it will give us the ability to respond to market conditions and customer needs while increasing the supply of natural gas in the state, whether we are importing or exporting,”

First proposed in 2005, the DELNG project in May of 2014 received a positive Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) from FERC for its originally proposed regasification project. Although the proposed bi-directional facility will require modifications to the current site plan, much of the facility will remain the same.

The reconfigured DELNG project will retain one LNG storage tank, pier, regasification equipment and natural gas pipeline as currently proposed, adding liquefaction capacity to the current design.

DELNG also plans to submit its Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) and non-FTA export requests to the Department of Energy (DOE).

Construction on the project will begin in 2016 and the project is expected to be operational in 2019/2020.

Press Release, July 24, 2014; Image: Downeast LNG