Commonwealth LNG Gets Final OKs to Build, Export from FERC, DOE
Commonwealth LNG received major news this week from two different government agencies. The first bit of news was a final authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to proceed with building the $11 billion project in Cameron, Louisiana. The second bit of news was a final authorization to export to countries without a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, granted by the Department of Energy (DOE). Commonwealth still plans to make a final investment decision (FID) on the project in the third quarter of this year. Read More “Commonwealth LNG Gets Final OKs to Build, Export from FERC, DOE”


Marcellus/Utica molecules may be heading to Malaysia. Commonwealth LNG yesterday identified PETRONAS LNG Ltd., a subsidiary of Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, as the major Asian energy company referenced in the company’s May 5 announcement of a buyer to purchase 1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG for 20 years from Commonwealth’s 9.5 MTPA facility under development in Cameron, Louisiana. Commonwealth LNG currently has 4 MTPA of offtake under long-term agreements. The company expects to finalize all of the deals it needs before making a final investment decision (FID) in Q3 2025. The Commonwealth facility targets its first LNG production in 2029.
MDN recently brought you the news that the Trump U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) was blocking at least three (possibly more) cargoes of ethane by rejecting permits to export to Enterprise Products Partners (see
The Japanese certainly want to stay on the good side of Donald Trump regarding trade. Yesterday, JERA Co., Inc., Japan’s largest power generation company, joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright (the Chair and Vice Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council, respectively), along with Shigeo Yamada, Ambassador of Japan to the United States, to announce that the company has finalized several 20-year agreements to procure up to 5.5 million tonnes per year (MTPA) of LNG from the United States. 
Bloomberg reports that Donald Trump is using our dominance of a niche petroleum gas, ethane, as a bargaining chip in his trade war with China. Last week MDN brought you the news that the Trump U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is blocking at least three (possibly more) cargoes of ethane by rejecting permits to export to Enterprise Products Partners (see
Three years ago, in May 2022, MDN brought you the surprising news that ethane, propane, and butane (NGLs) were being exported from a facility in Gibbstown, NJ, located along the Delaware River, at a former DuPont dynamite factory site (see
Two days ago, RBN Energy reported that ethane and butane exports for Enterprise Products Partners and possibly other NGL exporters were in doubt following a notice received by Enterprise from the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) flagging such exports to China as a security risk (see
RBN Energy is reporting that ethane and butane exports for Enterprise Products Partners and possibly other NGL exporters are in doubt following a notice received from the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) flagging such exports to China as a security risk. Specifically, ethane and butane exports pose an “unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to a military end use.” RBN’s blunt assessment is this: “The BIS decision has the potential to ruin the U.S. ethane market and disrupt global flows.” 
We need a scorecard to keep track of all the ups and downs at the problem-plagued Freeport LNG export facility, located near Galveston, Texas. We don’t think it’s a stretch to say the plant, which is the third-largest LNG export plant in the U.S., has been down almost as much as it has been up since first coming online in 2019 (
On May 22, the International Gas Union (IGU) released its 16th annual 2025 World LNG Report, the world’s most comprehensive public source of information on key developments and trends in the LNG sector (full copy below). According to the report, today’s LNG market is “poised to evolve rapidly” as commercial, political, regulatory, and environmental factors offer opportunities. However, the LNG market is “also fraught with uncertainty.”