TotalEnergies plans to raise the production capacity of the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana in the United States, the French supermajor said on Monday, as the U.S. is looking to boost LNG shipments to Europe to help it reduce dependence on Russian gas.
Under a recent heads of agreement signed with the other partners in the Cameron LNG project, TotalEnergies will expand the plant with a fourth production train with a production capacity of 6.75 million metric tons per annum (Mtpa). This would be a 5-percent increase of the current 13.5 Mtpa first three trains through debottlenecking.
Cameron LNG is jointly owned by Sempra Infrastructure (50.2 percent), TotalEnergies (16.6 percent), Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (16.6 percent), and Japan LNG Investment (16.6 percent).
Under the terms of the deal, TotalEnergies will offtake 16.6 percent of the projected fourth train's production capacity and 25 percent of the projected debottlenecked capacity.
TotalEnergies, the world's leading exporter of U.S. LNG as of 2021, is the second-largest LNG trader in the world, with a market share of around 10 percent, the company says.
The French major also announced today that Cameron LNG advances the development of this project with the selection of two contractors to conduct a competitive Front End Engineering Design (FEED) in view of the selection of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor.
Development of the Cameron LNG expansion project remains subject to definitive agreements, obtaining the necessary permits, and all partners reaching a final investment decision planned for 2023.
At the end of last month, a month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union and the United States announced a deal for more U.S. liquefied natural gas exports to the EU as the latter seeks to replace Russian supplies, on which it is dependent.
According to the terms of the deal, the United States will deliver at least 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas to the EU this year more than previously planned, the White House said in a fact sheet.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More