LNG Unlimited - 63 - 15 July 2014

LNG JOURNAL PUBLICATION 15 July 2014 LNG Unlimited The Panama Canal Authority said it estimated work would be completed by the end of 2015 or early 2016, exactly when Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana is scheduled to begin commercial... More

LNG JOURNAL PUBLICATION 15 July 2014 LNG Unlimited The Panama Canal Authority said it estimated work would be completed by the end of 2015 or early 2016, exactly when Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana is scheduled to begin commercial operations. The Canal expansion project began in September 2007. While energy cargoes of diesel and gasoline routinely pass through the waterway, about 90 percent of the more than 380 LNG carriers will be technically able to use the Canal after the expansion. LNG carriers have transited the Canal in the last five years; though none was actually carrying LNG. All of these were multigas type carriers that can load either LNG or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and the ships were in ballast or carrying non-LNG products. Once expansion work is completed the Canal will accommodate all of the global LNG fleet except the world’s largest LNG carriers, the Q-Flex and Q-Max ships belonging to Qatar, the largest global LNG producer. Earlier this year, the Less