DOE finalizes non-FTA license for Cove Point LNG

OREANDA-NEWS. The US Department of Energy (DOE) today issued final authorization to Dominion's Cove LNG project to export to countries that do not have free trade agreements (FTAs) with the US.

The DOE in September 2013 granted Cove Point conditional authorization to export up to 5.75mn t/yr of LNG, equivalent to 770mn cf/d (21.8mn m?/d) of gas, to non-FTA nations, a group that comprises most of the world's largest LNG-consuming nations by volume.

The DOE could not finalize the license until the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finalized its environmental approval of the project, which FERC did on 4 May by denying a rehearing of the construction authorization it issued on 29 September.

Cove Point has been authorized to export up to a gas equivalent of 1 Bcf/d to FTA nations, but its peak capacity will be a gas equivalent of 770mn cf/d.

The delays in finalizing the licenses did not slow the project, as Dominion started some construction after FERC's 29 September decision. Cove Point is one of four LNG export projects being built in the contiguous US.

Cove Point is on budget and on schedule to become the second operating US LNG export facility in the contiguous US. It has an estimated cost of \$3.6bn-\$3.8bn and is scheduled to come on line in late 2017.

Dominion has contracted 2.3mn t/yr of liquefaction capacity for 20 years each to Indian state-owned gas utility Gail and a venture of Japanese trading house Sumitomo and utility Tokyo Gas. The two entities would equally share any excess production.