HOUSTON, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity will reach 8.9 billion cubic feet (1 billion cubic feet is about 28.3 million cubic meters) per day by the end of 2019, making it the third largest in the world, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday.
Currently, U.S. LNG export capacity stands at 3.6 billion cubic feet per day, and it is expected to end the year at 4.9 billion cubic feet per day as two new liquefaction units, also known as trains, become operational.
Commissioning of liquefaction facilities, which involves introducing natural gas feed into the train and ultimately producing LNG, contributes to the export capacity increase.
Two more LNG export facilities - Cameron LNG in Louisiana and Freeport LNG in Texas - are currently being commissioned.
Operating liquefaction trains expansion also contributes to the increase. The Elba Island LNG facility in the southeastern state Georgia, which consists of 10 small modular liquefaction units, is scheduled to become fully operational by the end of 2019.
Project developers expect LNG production from the first train to begin early next year and from the remaining nine trains to commence sequentially through the rest of 2019.
The second train at Corpus Christi LNG is scheduled to be placed in service in the second quarter of 2019. The final two trains of the U.S. liquefaction projects currently under construction - Freeport Train 3 and Corpus Christi Train 3 - are expected in service in the second quarters of 2020 and 2021, respectively.
The U.S. Federal Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy have approved four additional export terminals and another train. These proposed projects represent a combined additional LNG export capacity of 7.6 billion cubic feet per day.
EIA forecasts that U.S. LNG exports to average 2.9 billion cubic feet per day in 2018 and 5.2 billion cubic feet per day in 2019 as the new liquefaction trains are gradually commissioned and ramp up LNG production to operate at full capacity.
