Posted on February 21, 2025
The new Trump administration issued its first approval for exports from a new liquified natural gas plant proposed in Cameron Parish.
The permit approval for Commonwealth LNG comes just under a month after President Donald Trump entered office, aligning with his campaign promise to unleash U.S. natural gas.
“Today marks one of many steps that DOE (the Department of Energy) will be taking to assure our future as a reliable energy supplier to the world and resume regular order to our regulatory responsibilities over natural gas exports,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Headquartered in Houston, Commonwealth LNG plans to build a natural gas export terminal on 150 acres where the mouth of Calcasieu Ship Channel meets the Gulf of Mexico. The plant would export up to 9.5 million metric tons of liquified natural gas per year — the equivalent of just over 3,700 Superdomes filled with natural gas.
Liquified natural gas, or LNG, is natural gas that has been supercooled to near-liquid form to make it easier to ship overseas. The U.S. is currently the world’s largest producer and exporter of natural gas.
The permit from the Department of Energy would allow the company to export LNG to countries beyond those with which the U.S. has free trade agreements if it secures the financing needed for construction and receives approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — the federal agency that oversees the transmission of electricity and natural gas.
The facility Commonwealth LNG plans to build is one of 16 export terminals proposed on the Gulf Coast. It’s less than a third of the size of another LNG terminal proposed just across the Calcasieu Ship Channel called CP2, which would be the largest LNG plant in the world if constructed.
Given the project’s medium size, Ira Joseph, an analyst with Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, said he didn’t expect the project to cause “a big ripple” in the country’s LNG landscape.
But the Trump administration’s approval does suggest that more LNG projects will likely be permitted in the U.S., Joseph said.
And Commonwealth officials agreed.
“Today’s actions demonstrate that President Trump is prioritizing the American energy industry and we are both pleased and grateful to have achieved these important regulatory objectives,” said Commonwealth CEO Farhad Ahrabi.
