New US LNG Export Projects Risk Delays Due To Stricter Pollution Rules

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

New U.S. LNG projects risk delays amid the Biden Administration’s push for lower emissions and the ongoing reviews about the environmental impact of the planned export facilities.

After President Joe Biden halted new LNG project approvals in January for a review of the current permitting process, the U.S. Administration is looking to implement stricter rules on pollution the export facilities are allowed to emit in the community.  

These new requirements are holding back projects, one being Venture Global’s CP2 LNG in Louisiana, and the company’s second such project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. 

Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asked Venture Global to provide more details to prove its emissions would be below the stricter threshold.

Venture Global criticized FERC’s move as an “eleventh hour data request” that would “encourage further baseless claims,” the company said in a letter to the regulator seen by the Financial Times.

Venture Global says its project is in line with standards and has filed new information with FERC.

Cheniere Energy, the top U.S. LNG exporter, also has projects that need approvals.

Cheniere is working closely with FERC to progress the permitting approval process for trains 8 and 9 at Corpus Christi, CEO Jack Fusco said on the Q1 earnings call earlier this month.

“We expect to receive our environmental assessment soon and remain confident that we will receive all necessary regulatory approvals to be able to sanction the project in 2025,” Fusco said. 

The halt of new LNG project approvals has been criticized by the U.S. oil and gas industry while environmentalists are pressuring the Administration to reject new project approvals.

“We trust that when the government reviews the climate and environmental justice harms, they will fully reject all LNG export projects, because anything less would reveal this pause to be nothing more than a strategic and self-serving PR campaign,” Candice Fortin, 350.org US Campaign Manager, said.

Charlie Riedl, Executive Director at the Center for LNG (CLNG), responded to the halt in permits saying “This is a short-sighted and damaging action that weakens U.S. relations with our allies. It undermines U.S. energy leadership in the world without any benefit to our shared climate goals and with considerable risk to the U.S. economy by endangering future projects and the jobs associated with them, as well as destabilizing international energy markets.”