FERC Approves Construction of Four LNG Export Projects in Texas

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) yesterday announced the approval of four LNG projects located in Texas. This major step forward was also reported on by Reuters and The Houston Chronicle. Three of the approvals are for new projects in the Brownsville area: NextDecade Corp’s Rio Grande LNG, Exelon’s Annova LNG, and Texas LNG. The fourth project is a seven train expansion of Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG. These facilities combined represent 6.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of export capacity – an important development as the U.S. continues to produce a record amount of natural gas.

Once in operation, these projects will play a key role in providing reliable, affordable energy to U.S. allies around the globe. According to Reuters, “One billion cubic feet is enough gas to supply about 5 million U.S. homes for a day,” and this announcement puts the U.S. on track to be the third largest LNG producer this year – behind Qatar and Australia – and the largest by 2024.

FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee emphasized the importance of the projects:

“The Commission has now completed its work on applications for 11 LNG export projects in the past nine months, helping the United States expand the availability of natural gas for our global allies who need access to an efficient, affordable and environmentally friendly fuel for power generation.”

The economic benefits are major gains as well. According to The Houston Chronicle:

“The three Brownsville projects represent more than $38 billion of private investment, thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of high-paying permanent jobs in one of the poorest regions of the United States.”

Although these numbers are estimates, they display very high economic opportunity. This is a significant step for American energy globally and just one of the first phases in continued expansion and investment in our nation’s critical energy infrastructure.