MARAD approves first U.S. FLNG project

The U.S. Maritime Administration has approved a deepwater port license for the Delfin LNG export project.

Delfin LNG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fairwood Peninsula Energy, plans to build a deepwater port in the Gulf of Mexico to liquefy domestically sourced natural gas for export. Exports are proposed to both free trade agreement nations and non-FTA nations.

The proposed LNG project will be located in Federal waters within the outer continental shelf about 37.4 to 40.8 nautical miles off the coast of Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

It would consist of four semi-permanently moored floating LNG vessels and the project would reuse and repurpose two existing offshore natural gas pipelines. Four new 30-inch diameter pipeline laterals, each approximately 6,400 feet in length, connecting each of the FLNGVs, would be constructed.

Each vessel is expected to have a total LNG storage capacity of 210,000 cubic meters with the offloading system at the deep water port capable of accommodating tankers up to 170,000-cbm capacity.

Approximately 31 LNG tankers are expected to visit each of the four FLNGVs per year for a total of up to 124 cargo transfer operations per year.

All four vessels are planned to have a production capacity of 3 million tons per year of LNG totaling 12 mtpa for the project, however, it is anticipated that with the optimization the project would be capable of producing 13.2 mtpa.

According to the MARAD filing, the port operations are expected to commence no earlier than July 2019 with the commissioning of the first FLNGV. The port is expected to be fully operational by July 2022.