Floating LNG Deepwater Port Announced For Louisiana

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has reported that Delfin Midstream has reached its final investment decision to spend $5 billion to create the nation’s first floating LNG export facility.

The facility, to be known as Delfin FLNG 1, received the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export deepwater port license from the U.S. Department of Transportation on May 25, according to a USDOT news release. It will be located in federal waters in the Gulf, 40.8 miles off the shore of Cameron Parish, La. The USDOT has also issued a second deepwater port license, for Texas GulfLink, which plans to export crude from a site in federal waters roughly 30 miles off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas.

Delfin FLNG 1 expects production to begin in 2030, adding 4.4 million metric tons a year of LNG export capacity. Delfin plans to build two new floating LNG vessels to be launched in the next year, bringing its total liquefaction capacity to 13.2 million metric tons per year. At full capacity, the facility is expected to export about 1.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, according to the Department of Transportation.

“What makes this project remarkable is not simply that it liquefies natural gas; what makes it remarkable is where, and how,” MarAd Administrator Stephen M. Carmel said. “This is the first offshore LNG export terminal ever licensed in the United States, and getting here took the better part of a decade. That patience is the price of doing something genuinely new. Every cargo that leaves this port is a commitment the United States is able to keep.”

Samsung Heavy Industries acts as the primary engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.

Delfin FLNG 1 is the largest floating LNG project globally, according to USDOT. It will operate in 72 feet of water.