Freeport LNG recently requested permission from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to increase its export volumes from its terminal currently under construction near Freeport, Texas, in Brazoria County.

According to a notice issued by the DOE, Freeport LNG is looking to amend the previous export authorizations to non-Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries.

In its latest request published in the Federal Register, Freeport LNG is seeking permission to engage in additional long-term, multicontract exports of domestically produced LNG in a volume up to the equivalent of 125 billion cubic feet per year (Bcf/yr) of natural gas for a period of 20 years.

This additional volume of LNG is incremental to the equivalent of 146 Bcf/yr of natural gas and to the equivalent of 511 Bcf/yr of natural gas that Freeport LNG is currently authorized to export.

Through the amendment, Freeport LNG seeks to align the authorized export volumes of LNG to non-FTA countries from its liquefaction project with the optimized increased production capacity design of the facilities approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Around 13.2 metric tons per year of the production capacity of Freeport LNG’s three liquefaction trains have been contracted under use-or-pay liquefaction tolling agreements, according to the company’s website.

The first two trains are on schedule to commence operations by September 2018 and February 2019, respectively. The third train is expected to be in operation about six months following the second train, or, in August 2019.

Freeport LNG is also planning to add a fourth natural gas liquefaction unit to the three trains already under construction. This expansion would allow the export of an additional five million tons of LNG per year, increasing the total export capability of all four trains to more than 20 million tons of LNG per year.

The DOE noted that the protests, motions to intervene or notices of intervention, as applicable, requests for additional procedures are to be submitted by Nov. 7.

Bryan Sims can be reached at bsims@hartenergy.com and @bsimshart.