The Sempra Energy-led Cameron liquefied natural gas facility in Louisiana has begun shipping commissioning cargoes as the US looks poised to become one of the top three LNG exporters in the world this year, writes Caroline Evans.

The Singapore-flagged LNG carrier Marvel Crane left the Cameron LNG facility last week, Sempra confirmed.

The facility is expected to start commercial operations in mid-2019 after it receives Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) authorisation.

The news comes as the US looks set to rank among Qatar and Australia as one of the top three LNG exporters this year as more facilities come online.

The other two trains at the three-train Cameron LNG facility are due online later this year, as are the first of 10 modules at the Kinder Morgan Elba Island LNG project in Georgia and the first train at the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas.

The Cameron LNG facility will have capacity to export 12 million tonnes per annum of LNG, or about 1.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. The final commissioning phase is under way at Train 1, while Train 2 and Train 3 are still under construction.

Ferc last week granted the Cameron LNG developers' request for more time to complete construction after start-up was delayed by more than a year after construction fell behind schedule.

The Ferc order extends the deadline to place the facility into service by 15 months, to 19 September 2020.

The facility was originally expected online in early 2018, but that was later pushed back because of problems and delays in building the project.

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Cameron LNG ships first commissioning cargo