Venture Global gets positive EIS for CP2 LNG plant, pipeline

Venture Global LNG Inc.’s 20-milllion tonnes/year (tpy) nameplate capacity CP2 LNG plant and 4-bcfd CP Express natural gas pipeline project received a final environmental impact statement (EIS) from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The regulatory milestone “puts us on track for a Commission vote and the commencement of construction later this year,” said Mike Sabel, chief executive officer, Venture Global LNG. “CP2 continues to have robust commercial and financial momentum with approximately half of the project already sold out,” he continued.

CP2 LNG will be built in Cameron Parish, La., and the 91-mile CP Express in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes, La., and Jasper and Newton Counties, Tex.  Venture Global hopes to begin construction in 2023 to meet a second-quarter 2026 in-service date.

To date, 9.25 million tpy of the nameplate capacity has been sold under 20-year agreements, with discussions ongoing for the remaining capacity, the company said. Over half of the contracted capacity has been committed to German and Japanese customers.

The FERC staff concluded that approval of the proposed project, with the mitigation measures recommended in the EIS, would result in some adverse environmental impacts.  However, most of these impacts would be less-than-significant, with the exception visual resources, including cumulative visual impacts, and visual impacts on environmental justice communities in the region, FERC said. 

Climate change impacts are not characterized in the EIS as significant or insignificant. 

As part of the analysis, Commission staff developed specific mitigation measures (included in the final EIS as recommendations).  Staff recommend that these mitigation measures be attached as conditions to any authorization issued by the Commission.