Dominion's Cove Point LNG Facility Begins Commissioning, More to Come

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)-- Dominion Energy Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia) has introduced feed gas into its Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Lusby, Maryland. The company announced earlier this week that Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A) (The Hague, Netherlands) is providing natural gas for the commissioning process and will take the LNG that is produced before Dominion officially starts the facility and begins shipping to its contracted buyers. The plant startup is one in a line of LNG plants coming online in the near future that will boost U.S. LNG exports.

Construction on the $4 billion Cove Point facility began in late 2014. The plant has a nameplate capacity of 5.25 million tons per year and is capable of liquefying 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas. Dominion has signed 20-year tolling agreements with a joint venture of Sumitomo Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) and Tokyo Gas Company Limited (Tokyo), as well as the U.S. affiliate of GAIL (India) Limited (New Delhi, India). As part of the facility, a 130-megawatt steam cogeneration unit was constructed to provide power. In a press release, Dominion said construction involved more than 10,000 craft workers. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the liquefaction facility and cogeneration plant.

The Cove Point facility was one of a few LNG liquefaction facilities under construction this year in the U.S., along with several more being planned. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that in August 2017, total U.S. LNG export capacity was 2.8 Bcf/d, following the completion of Train 4 at Cheniere Energy's (NYSE:LNG) Sabine Pass facility in Cameron, Louisiana. Train 1 at Sabine Pass began exporting LNG in early 2016, paving the way for future U.S. LNG exports. Construction on the fourth liquefaction train at the facility began in late 2013 and was completed this summer. Construction on a fifth train began in mid-2015 and is expected to be completed in early 2020. A sixth train remains in the early planning stages. Each train has a production capacity of 4.5 million metric tons per year. Bechtel Group Incorporated (San Francisco, California) is providing engineering, procurement and construction work on the projects, which each have an estimated total investment value of $2.5 billion. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on Train 4, Train 5 and Train 6 of Sabine Pass.

As these and other projects come online, the EIA estimates that U.S. LNG export capacity will be 9.6 Bcf/d by the end of 2019.

Click on image at right for a graph showing the EIA's estimated U.S. LNG export capacity through 2019.

Among the other projects under construction are trains 1 and 2 at Cheniere's facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. Both trains have a production capacity of 4.5 million metric tons per year. Construction on Train 1 kicked off in 2015 and is expected to come online in the third quarter of next year. Train 2 is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2019. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on Train 1 and Train 2 at the Corpus Christi facility. In the company's third-quarter conference call, Cheniere Chief Executive Officer Jack Fusco said that in addition to a sixth train at Sabine Pass, the company had the goal of developing a third train at Corpus Christi. Construction could begin as early as next summer, taking about three years to complete. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report on Train 3 and November 15, 2017, article - Cheniere Keeps Eye on Future Growth in the Midst of LNG Projects.

A handful of other large-scale LNG export facilities also are under construction in the U.S. Among these are Sempra Energy's (NYSE:SRE) (San Diego, California) facility in Cameron, Louisiana, and Kinder Morgan Incorporated's (NYSE:KMI) (Houston, Texas) Elba Island facility in Georgia. Sempra began construction on its $10 billion Cameron LNG plant in 2014. The facility is expected to come online in the first half of next year. The plant will include three 5 million-metric-ton-per-year liquefaction trains. Twenty-year tolling agreements are in place with Engie (La Défense, France), Mitsubishi Corporation (Tokyo) and Mitsui & Company Limited (Tokyo) for the plant's entire output capacity. Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (NYSE:CBI) (The Hague) is performing EPC work on the facility. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Kinder Morgan's Elba Island facility will include 10 smaller liquefaction trains to produce 2.5 million tons per year of LNG. Royal Dutch Shell will take 100% of the LNG produced. Six trains are expected to come online in the summer of 2018, with the following four set to start up in the first half of 2019. IHI Corporation (Tokyo) is providing EPC work on the $2.5 billion project. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

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