FERC OKs Export Capacity Expansion at KMI’s Georgia LNG Plant

Kinder Morgan (KMI) has been granted federal permission to produce more LNG at one of the East Coast’s two LNG export facilities.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave Southern LNG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, the green light to produce an additional 0.4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) at its Elba Island LNG terminal, which has a current capacity of 2.5 mtpa of LNG, according to the FERC ruling.

Elba Island, on the Georgia side of the Savannah River, is one of two LNG export terminals on the U.S. East Coast, according to the FERC. Berkshire Hathway’s Cove Point LNG in Maryland, which has an annual capacity of about 5.75 mtpa is the other.

Both are outproduced in comparison to the LNG terminals located on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. For example, Freeport LNG in Texas has a capacity of more than 16 mtpa following a de-bottlenecking project this year and has further plans to build a fourth LNG production train, raising its capacity to more than 20 mtpa.

The FERC ruling on Nov. 21 did not include an estimated completion date for the capacity expansion at Elba Island. Kinder Morgan’s expansion primarily involves updating and improving the equipment at the island facility.

“Our optimization project at our Elba Island LNG Terminal involves making modifications to existing liquefaction facilities, which we expect will take a few years to complete,” said Catherine Hill, Kinder Morgan’s corporate communications manager, in an e-mail to Hart Energy.

KMI’s intention to improve Elba Island’s facilities became public in May 2023 with an announcement in the Federal Register.