Environment

Success story
Cameron lng

Cameron LNG is a natural gas liquefaction and export facility located in Hackberry, Louisiana, which became fully operational in August of 2020. Since then, it has become a benchmark in environmental and safety practices.

A liquefaction facility is responsible for cooling and compressing natural gas to store it in its liquid form and reduce its volume by up to 600 times. This facilitates its transportation and export to other markets and countries, where it is regasified and can be distributed through natural gas pipelines systems and used in homes and businesses.

At Cameron LNG, we use liquefaction units called trains to compress the gas into its liquefied state. First, we remove the impurities and contaminants of the feed gas, then it undergoes a complex process combining compression and cooling based on propane and ethylene refrigerants until it reaches an approximate temperature of -162.2 degrees Celsius4. It is stored in insulated tanks and ready for transport in its liquid state.

Our Cameron LNG facility includes three compression trains and has approximately 12 Mtpa of LNG of export capacity. Currently, we are actively developing the Cameron LNG Phase 2 expansion, which contemplates a one-train expansion and debottlenecking of the first three trains, and are working with our JV partners Total, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and Japan LNG Investment, LLC, to continue to advance the project. We have recently requested a revision to our permits, subject to approval by the U.S. Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC), that would allow the use of electric drives rather than gas turbine drives to reduce overall emissions.

On environmental impacts

The planned Cameron LNG Phase 2 expansion would add an additional train and electric motor-driven compressor to the facility. The use of electric compression would reduce the new train’s Scope 1 direct CO2 -equivalent emissions. To further mitigate our emissions at the site, we are regularly enhancing our operating procedures, leading to fewer start and stop cycle processes and limiting venting and flaring.

Additionally, we have also proposed a plan to develop a carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration project to strip out the impurities in the gas and inject it in the ground to reduce the CO2 emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

On safety

The highlight of this project revolves around resilient operations and health and safety management.

In 2021, Cameron LNG Phase 1 received the Perfect Record Award from the National Safety Council, recognizing more than 89 million hours worked without any lost-time incidents recorded during construction and operational transition, with a workforce of up to 10,000 employees on-site at peak construction and without a single case of onsite COVID-19 transmission, a world-class achievement.

Additionally, in 2020, the facility was impacted by two hurricanes, one of which made landfall at the facility. These severe weather events tested the facility’s design and the operating team’s resiliency. As a result, the team learned valuable lessons, and used the opportunity to revise procedures, enhance emergency preparedness, and strengthen waterway resiliency efforts in collaboration with port authorities, government agencies, and community stakeholders.

We have implemented an early alert system to help us manage any emergencies and monitor the safety of our employees and the security of our assets during and after any hazardous event.

We have also taken advantage of Cameron LNG’s key safety personnel’s expertise to extend these safety programs and practices to our Port Arthur LNG and ECA LNG projects under development.

Cameron LNG’s safety record is a clear example of how we learn lessons from incidents, in this case, to raise our emergency preparedness and response to higher levels.

With the health and safety of our workforce, customers, and communities at the forefront, we are able to achieve world-class safety outcomes.

4 Equivalent to -260 degrees Fahrenheit.