US Approves LNG Exports from Oregon Terminal

the Jordan Cove Energy Project. Image courtesy Jordan Cover Energy Project, L.P.

By Jim Snyder

March 24 (Bloomberg) — Jordan Cove Energy Project LP won U.S. approval to export natural gas from a terminal in Oregon as momentum builds in Washington to sell more domestic energy resources overseas in response to the turmoil in Ukraine.

President Barack Obama’s administration has approved seven export-terminal applications that would export about 9.3 billion cubic feet of gas a day to countries that don’t have free trade deals with the U.S. Countries with free trade deals need only nominal review.

Six of the seven approved projects, including Jordan Cove, need further environmental and public health reviews. Only Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass facility, approved in 2011, has started construction.

Jordan Cove, owned and managed by Calgary-based Veresen Inc., was approved a day before three congressional committees have scheduled hearings to study how more U.S. energy exports may blunt Russia’s influence on European energy resources after its annexation of Crimea in southern Ukraine.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said at a Bloomberg Government breakfast last week that geopolitics may take on greater importance as the department weighs additional export applications.

The Jordan Cove terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, would be able to export 800 million cubic feet a day of gas for 20 years. The Energy Information Administration projects U.S. natural gas production to increase to more than 72 bcf a day this year, as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling unlocks reserves that were once to costly to procure.

The Energy Department has studied LNG exports and concluded such sales weren’t likely to significantly raise domestic costs.