''Freeport LNG''—also known as Freeport LNG Development, L.P.—is a U.S. exporter of

Liquified Natural Gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

(LNG) located in

Freeport, Texas Freeport is a city in Brazoria County, Texas, United States, located on the Gulf of Mexico. According to the 2020 census, the city population was 10,696, down from 12,049 in 2010. History Freeport was founded as a European-American settlement i ...

. Freeport was an early entrant to the then emerging U.S. LNG market in the early 2000s, initially as a gas importer, and then pivoted to develop an LNG export terminal in the early 2010s after the US shale gas revolution. LNG import operations came online in 2008, while export operations began in 2019. Freeport is the only LNG plant in the US to use grid-powered electric motors to compress and chill natural gas. A pipeline rupture and explosion in June 2022 took the Freeport LNG terminal offline. restart of the terminal was not expected prior to February 2023.

History

Freeport LNG Development, L.P., was founded as a

limited partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership except that while a general partnership must have at least two general partners (GPs), a limited partnership must have at least one GP and at least one limited ...

in 2002. The LNG Quintana Island project had been initially developed by

Cheniere Energy Cheniere Energy, Inc. is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company headquartered in Houston, Texas. In February 2016 it became the first US company to export liquefied natural gas. As of 2018 it is a Fortune 500 company. Company history Initially an ...

and was subsequently funded for build out by the LP entity, consisting of Smith Entities (60%) and Cheniere (40%). , the LP ownership was 45% Smith, 15%

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastic ...

, 30% Cheniere, and 10%

Osaka Gas , commonly written as 大阪ガス, is a Japanese gas company based in Osaka, Japan. It supplies gas to the Kansai region, especially the Keihanshin area when an advert of 1986 used the Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves. Osaka Gas is also engag ...

. As of 2019, Michael Smith Global Infrastructure Partners and Osaka Gas hold the primary LP interests for Freeport LNG. Michael Smith is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Freeport LNG. In January 2005, the US

regulatory authority A regulatory agency (regulatory body, regulator) or independent agency (independent regulatory agency) is a government authority that is responsible for exercising autonomous dominion over some area of human activity in a licensing and regulatin ...

permitted Freeport LNG to commence construction of the LNG terminal and natural gas pipeline. Freeport LNG started construction in the first quarter of 2005. The 2005 estimated cost to construct the facility was US$800–850 million, before financing costs, with terminal operations expected to commence in 2008. In the event, the company began operations as a gas importer in 2008. A major shift in the LNG gas market due primarily to improvements in extracting gas from shale saw little need for the US to continue importing natural gas. In the early 2010s, Freeport LNG switched their market focus to becoming an exporter of LNG. This led to major investments in the facility and the construction of multiple process lines for

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

liquefaction In materials science, liquefaction is a process that generates a liquid from a solid or a gas or that generates a non-liquid phase which behaves in accordance with fluid dynamics. It occurs both naturally and artificially. As an example of the ...

. Initial export operations began in December 2019. The multi-phase expansion costing more than $25 billion led to Freeport LNG having one of the largest LNG export facilities in the world. On 8 June 2022, a fire and explosion occurred as a result of a pipeline rupture, taking the LNG terminal fully offline. , limited operations were expected to resume in September, with full service restored by the end of 2022. Because the terminal accounted for about 20% of US LNG exports, and with European countries looking for LNG imports as an alternative to Russian gas since the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, the disruption had a major impact on international gas prices. Total losses from the event were estimated at US$ 6-8 billion. , resumption of partial operations of the plant were pushed back to November 2022. As of 29 November 2022, Freeport LNG was expected to partially resume shipments in mid-December, and to resume full shipments by March of 2023. A report published in November 2022 blamed the explosion on inadequate operating and testing procedures, human error and alarm fatigue.

References

Liquefied natural gas terminals Energy infrastructure in Texas {{company-stub