Freeport LNG Marks 800th Cargo Milestone

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Texas, United States (U.S.), has marked the shipment of 800 cargos since it came into operation.

Freeport LNG, which is owned by Freeport LNG Investments, JERA, and Osaka Gas, has confirmed its 800 LNG cargo, describing it as a significant milestone.

“The cargo, lifted by Freeport LNG customer JERA, safely departed Freeport LNG’s dock this morning. Thanks to all of our teams for their hard work and dedication in helping us to achieve this great accomplishment,” added the firm.

Legal Battles and Expansion Plans

The 800th cargo achievement comes after Texas-based litigation firm Hicks Thomas LLP disclosed its win in two legal battles related to lawsuits amounting to $1.3 billion against builders of the Freeport LNG project because of an explosion that damaged the Freeport LNG (FLNG) Freeport Texas facility in June 2022.

JERA executed a liquefaction tolling agreement with FLIQ1 Holdings (FLIQ1) to receive liquefaction services from Train 1 and acquired a 25% equity interest in FLIQ1. Furthermore, the firm secured pipeline transportation capacity with major pipeline companies, enabling access to various U.S. natural gas markets and producers to provide feed gas to Train 1.

Investments and Development

Furthermore, JERA revealed in November 2021 the investment in Freeport LNG Development (FLNG), a company that operates the Freeport LNG project. Following completion, the firm wrapped up the acquisition of 25.7% interest from Global Infrastructure Partners.

After Freeport LNG began the development of the liquefaction project in 2010, the construction phase came a few years later, in late 2014. Each of the terminal’s liquefaction trains can produce more than 600 MMcf/d of LNG.

Future Expansion

With an additional LNG train (Train 4) under development, the facility is set to expand its capacity to over 20 mpta. Train 4 will use electric motors with variable frequency drive for the cooling and liquefaction compression power to curb emissions, just like the first three trains.