Changes to the US Department of Energy (DOE) review process for exports of LNG to countries without a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US will come into effect as of today.
Final non-FTA authorisation will only undergo review after a project has completed a review with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a body that looks at the environmental impact and safety of an LNG export terminal. Announced in May, and subject to a public comment period, the new policy will remove a stage of the authorisation process, where the DOE would grant projects ‘conditional’ non-FTA export approval.
Despite the changes, companies that have already been granted conditional approval will not be affected.
DOE statement
“The US Department of Energy will act on applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the lower-48 states to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement requiring national treatment for natural gas only after completing the review required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), suspending its practice of issuing conditional decisions prior to final authorisation decisions,” a statement from the DOE read.
Many politicians have been calling for changes to the review process in a bid to expedite LNG exports, although some have criticised the move to more costly FERC reviews.
Read the full DOE Procedures for Liquefied Natural Gas Export Decisions
Edited from various sources by Ted Monroe