Houston-based Delfin Midstream said last week it secured $5 billion in financing to proceed with a long-delayed project to build the nation’s first liquified natural gas floating export terminal. Delfin Midstream aims to build the largest LNG floating facility in the world. It will be connected to an undersea pipeline Delfin is repurposing to bring natural gas from onshore to a platform about 40 miles off the coast of Cameron Parish, La. The offshore facility will initially produce 4.4 million metric tons of LNG each year.
Eric Smith, associate director of the Energy Institute at Tulane University in New Orleans, told reporters, “U.S. LNG production is the biggest in the world right now, particularly with our friends in Qatar shut in… Louisiana has more LNG export capability than anywhere else on earth.”
Delfin began working on the project in 2014 after purchasing an undersea natural gas pipeline. Delfin received permits in 2014, 2017 and 2025, but the project stalled during the Biden administration when it was required to reapply for a port license. The floating terminal will use a 42-inch pipeline – idle since 2012 – that was built to carry natural gas from offshore wells to the shore. The project still faces legal and safety hurdles before Delfin can begin offshore gas liquefaction.
Delfin said Vitol, a leading energy and commodities trader, and Diameter Capital Partners, alternative credit asset manager, have agreed to invest in Phase I. Target date to begin production is 2030. Ben Marshall, president and CEO of Vitol Americas, said June 4, “Delfin FLNG 1 will deliver reliable, cost-competitive American energy to global markets. We are proud to be a part of this first for American energy.”
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