The Golden Pass LNG project in Sabine Pass, Texas, will begin production by year-end, QatarEnergy chief executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said.
Together with QatarEnergy’s North gas field expansion projects at home, the project with Exxon Mobil Corp. will more than double QatarEnergy’s LNG production from the current 77 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) to 160 MMtpa, according to Al-Kaabi.
The first liquefaction train from the North Field east expansion project will start production by mid-2026. “As for North Field West, it is in the engineering phase and will be going into the construction phase somewhere in 2027”, Al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar’s energy affairs minister, told the World Gas Conference in Beijing, as quoted in a statement from QatarEnergy.
“QatarEnergy will be the largest single LNG exporter as a company while Qatar, as a country, will be the second-largest exporter of LNG after the United States for a very long time”, Al-Kaabi said.
On March 5 the United States Department of Energy extended the deadline for the start of export operations at Golden Pass LNG by two years to March 2027.
Golden Pass LNG is permitted to export the equivalent of up to 937 billion cubic feet a year of natural gas to FTA and non-FTA countries on a non-additive basis. The permits expire December 31, 2050.
Last year the JV, 70 percent owned by QatarEnergy and 30 percent by ExxonMobil, requested the DOE under the Biden administration to move the deadline of September 30, 2025, by 18 months for both FTA and non-FTA authorizations.
On April 28, 2025, the JV secured regulatory approval to commission the project. The go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) applies to Golden Pass LNG’s boil-off gas compression system, LNG storage, liquefaction system, LNG pumps, and end flash gas compression system. The permit was requested December 2023.
“[T]his approval does not grant Golden Pass the authority to commission or introduce hazardous fluids into other project facilities at the LNG terminal”, said a letter penned by Ghanshyam Patel, chief of LNG Branch 1 of FERC’s projects office.
“Additional authorizations will be released once Golden Pass has demonstrated full compliance with the conditions” set in a December 2016 FERC order granting construction and operation authorization for the project, added the letter published on the FERC’s website.
“Furthermore, we note that FERC staff look to continuously identify improvements to the safety and reliability of LNG facilities that may be realized during or after construction and throughout operations and may make recommendations in the future in this regard”.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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