US federal regulators have issued a draft environmental assessment for the updated Magnolia liquefied natural gas export facility in Louisiana after the project's developer predicted an increase in capacity, writes Caroline Evans.
Developer LNG Ltd is already authorised to build an 8 million tonnes per annum facility at the Magnolia LNG site in Lake Charles.
However, the company submitted a request late last year to amend its authorisation to expand the terminal's capacity to 8.8 million tpa "through the optimisation of its final design".
The increase in capacity would not require an increase in authorised feed gas rates, according to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) documents.
In the draft environmental report, Ferc concluded that the change in production capacity "would continue to avoid or reduce impacts to less than significant levels" as long as the developer follows recommended mitigation measures.
The measures, which include filing additional information and making sure equipment meets certain requirements, are to be attached as conditions to Ferc's authorisation of the capacity expansion.
A final environmental assessment is due in late-January, with final authorisation expected in late-April.
The proposed Magnolia LNG project will have initial capacity to produce 4 million tpa of LNG from two modules, which could be expanded with two additional units in a later phase of development.
