Cameron LNG Poised for First Export Shipment With First LNG Tanker
Cameron LNG is poised to load its first export shipment of liquefied natural gas after the arrival of the first LNG tanker at its Louisiana facility.
The Singapore-flagged tanker Marvel Crane early on May 28 arrived in the Calcasieu Ship Channel, where it later docked at the export terminal.
The tanker’s arrival comes two weeks after President Donald Trump visited the facility to mark the completion of the first production unit at the Hackberry, La., export terminal.
Marvel Crane’s itinerary was not immediately available, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently gave Cameron LNG permission to sell any liquefied natural gas made during the facility’s weekslong startup process on the global spot market through shipments known as commissioning cargoes.
Developed by San Diego utility company Sempra Energy and four overseas partners, construction crews began the final stages of a startup process, known as commissioning, at Cameron LNG’s first production unit in April.
Two more production units remain under construction. Once all three are operating, Cameron LNG will be able to make nearly 12 million metric tons of LNG per year.
Those production figures translate to about 1.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, enough energy to power 8.5 million U.S. homes for a day.
Marvel Crane is owned by the Japanese shipping company NYK Line and was built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co. in Nagasaki.
Completed in February, the ship has apple-shaped tanks that have greater LNG-carrying capacity than other models, as well as a hybrid stream and natural gas propulsion system that reduces fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
Marvel Crane is the second LNG tanker that NYK Line has placed under a 25-year charter with Mitsui & Co. as part of the Cameron LNG project.
