The developers of the Freeport liquefied natural gas export facility in Texas will get more time to finish building the first phase of the project after start-up was delayed by roughly nine months.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted the privately held project's request to extend the deadline to complete the initial three-train development by 11 months, to 30 June 2020. The original Ferc order issued in 2014 required the facility to be placed in service by 30 July of this year.

Developers anticipated starting up the terminal by the fourth quarter of 2018, but delays pushed back construction.

Construction slowdowns added $500 million in additional project costs, the majority of which will be paid by EPC contractors CB&I (now McDermott), Chiyoda, and Zachry, Smith told Upstream earlier this year.

The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey also compounded delays. Freeport LNG, which is responsible for delays caused by force majeure events, will pay between $100 million and $200 million for damages associated with Harvey.

The first train is expected to be placed into service in September, with the second and third trains coming online in the first and second quarter of 2020, respectively.

The Freeport project was recently granted approval to site, construct and operate a fourth liquefaction train that would add more than 5 million tonnes per annum to the project. A final investment decision on the train is expected in the second half of 2019.

The company also recently selected US contractor KBR as the preferred bidder for engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning work on the fourth train.

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Freeport LNG gets extension