Original news was published on 30 April, 2015

Freeport LNG Expansion has closed the US$4.56 billion in capital required for the construction of the third train of Freeport LNG's natural gas liquefaction and LNG loading facility on Quintana Island near Freeport, Texas. With that it has issued the greenlight to CB&I, Zachry Industrial and Chiyoda to proceed with construction, the consortium responsible for the first two trains.

The construction cost for the combined three-train project is expected to be US$12.5 billion, Freeport LNG said in a statement.

The first two trains are currently under construction and are on schedule to start operations by September 2018 and February 2019, respectively. The third train will begin production by August 2019. Each liquefaction train has a capacity in excess of 5 million tonnes per year. To date, about 13.4 million tonnes per annum of the production capacity of the three liquefaction trains has been contracted with Osaka Gas Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., BP Energy, Toshiba. and SK E&S LNG.

Freeport LNG believes the project will have a significant impact on the U.S. economy, as well as provide a reliable source of energy for American allies.

"Exports from the Freeport LNG project offer substantial geopolitical benefits as well, providing secure energy supplies to our key allies around the world and resulting in more than a 1 percent reduction in the U.S. trade deficit," Michael S. Smith, CEO Freeport LNG, said.

Freeport LNG received final approvals for FLIQ3  from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy in November 2014.

*NEWS SOURCE