U.S.'s Cheniere announced Monday it acquired financial resources, and gained authorization from the U.S. government to export increased volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports overseas.
Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P., also known as Cheniere Partners, announced Monday that its Sabine Pass Liquefaction project in the U.S. state of Louisiana 'has engaged with 18 financial institutions which will assist in the structuring and arranging of up to approximately $5.8 billion of debt facilities.'
'This includes approximately $4.6 billion of credit facilities and approximately a $1.2 billion revolving credit facility,' according to an official statement on Cheniere's website.
As the first volumes of the company's LNG exports are expected to hit the global gas market in late 2015 or early 2016, the project is designed for up to six liquefaction trains, each with a production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes (6.2 billion cubic meters) per annum of LNG.
Cheniere said Trains 1 and 2 are 90.8 percent complete while Trains 3 and 4 are 67.7 percent complete. Additionally, the firm got all regulatory approvals to begin construction of Trains 5 and 6.
- Authorization to boost export volumes
The U.S. Energy Department announced on June 26 that it authorized Cheniere's Sabine Pass project to export additional volumes of LNG, up to the equivalent of 1.38 billion cubic feet (41.4 million cubic meters) per day of natural gas for a period of 20 years.
The project, which was first to acquire an LNG export permit in the U.S., was authorized in 2012 to export LNG up to the equivalent of 2.2 billion cubic feet (66 million cubic meters) per day of natural gas for a period of 20 years.
With the latest approval, the project now has authorization to export LNG up to the equivalent of 3.58 billion cubic feet (107.4 million cubic meters) of natural gas per day for a period of 20 years.
Currently, there are seven projects that are approved by the U.S. government to export LNG to countries the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement with.
According to the U.S.' Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. will become a net gas exporter by 2017.
EIA also expects domestic natural gas production in the U.S. to increase to a record level in 2015, with an average production rate of 78.92 billion cubic feet (2.21 billion cubic meters) per day in 2015.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr