Cheniere Energy, the Houston-based company with a major gas line carrying product from Kingfisher, Oklahoma southward won federal approval this week to expand its Corpus Christi LNG operation. It means some of the natural gas shipped from Oklahoma’s STACK play will likely become LNG and shipped overseas.
It was one of four proposed liquefied natural gas export projects along the Texas coast that won approval to ship LNG to countries such as Japan, South Korea and India. they are countries that are not part of free trade agreements. The Energy Department authorized the projects to annually send up to 47 million metric tons overseas to Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Three of the four proposed projects are at the Port of Brownsville: Rio Grande LNG, by Houston-based NextDecade; Annova LNG, a Houston subsidiary of Chicago utility company Exelon; and Houston-based Texas LNG. The fourth is an expansion to Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi LNG.
Rio Grande LNG, Annova LNG and Texas LNG face stiff opposition from a coalition of Rio Grande Valley shrimpers, fishermen, environmentalists, neighbors and communities working under the banner Save RGV from LNG.
Citing concerns about endangered species, climate and other issues, opponents of projects have asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider permits issued for Rio Grande LNG and the other projects.
FERC officials tabled the requests to reconsider the permits for Annova LNG and Texas LNG and denied the request to reconsider the permit for Rio Grande LNG, setting the stage for opponents to file a federal lawsuit.
“This is a shameless attempt to prop up the fracked gas industry at the expense of our climate and communities,” Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Director Kelly Martin said in a statement.
Source: Houston Chronicle