Kinder Morgan has received federal approval for a $2 billion project to export liquefied natural gas from Georgia. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized Kinder Morgan’s Elba Liquefaction Project that will liquefy natural gas and export the product from Elba Island, which is near Savannah, Georgia.
The first of 10 liquefaction units is expected to start operations in the spring of 2018, with the project coming fully online by the end of that year. The project involves converting the existing import terminal at Elba Island. Kinder Morgan already has a 20-year deal with Royal Dutch Shell to purchase LNG. The terminal is expected to produce about 350 million cubic feet a day of LNG. Originally, the project was a 51-49 percent joint venture between majority owner Kinder Morgan and Shell. Kinder Morgan bought Shell’s interest in July, but Shell kept the 20-year contracts to buy the LNG.
Construction could begin within 60 days after the final regulatory approvals are granted, said Kinder Morgan spokesman Richard Wheatley.
FERC also signed off on $306 million in Kinder Morgan projects to expand its natural gas pipeline system in the Southeast, as well as to build a compressor station to serve the Elba Island project.