USA: Energy World plans $800 million LNG export plant in Port Fourchon

Energy World USA is aiming to build a mid-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and export facility at Port Fourchon, LA.

Energy World USA is part of the Energy World International group of companies that has a controlling interest in the Australian LNG terminal developer Energy World Corporation.

The proposed facility would eventually produce up to 2 million tons of LNG per year for export. The plant would also include a separate smaller scale liquefaction plant geared towards providing LNG to fuel the next generation of Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs) powered by LNG and operating in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Greater Lafourche Port Commission said in a statement it had been working with Energy World since April 2016 on the project. The project “is still very early in the planning and regulatory process.”

The facility would be constructed on a site of up to 150 acres located on port-owned property to the west of Belle Pass, which is located outside of the existing port development.

“The Energy World family of companies has over 20 years’ experience in the safe production, storage, transportation and delivery of LNG to its customers in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and we are looking forward to bringing this expertise to Port Fourchon,” Kevin Blount, President of Energy World USA said in the statement.

The LNG produced at Port Fourchon would initially be exported to Energy World’s gas-fired power plants across the Asia-Pacific region and also it would be sold into U.S. domestic markets for marine applications, Blount noted in the statement.

Eventually, the fuel could also be exported to Jamaica and the wider Caribbean where Energy World is separately proposing to develop a LNG hub terminal and gas-fired power plants, Stewart Elliott, Chairman and CEO of Energy World Corporation said.

The proposed facility could represent an investment of upwards of $800 million, making it the largest single initial investment in the history of both Port Fourchon and Lafourche Parish.

In the coming weeks, Greater Lafourche Port Commission will begin a Waterway Suitability Assessment with the US Coast Guard, which “will help to ensure that current and future port activities are not adversely affected by the operation of the potential facility.”

This document will also serve to support Energy World’s forthcoming application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for project approval.