Delfin Midstream said on Wednesday it has taken a positive final investment decision for the first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessel of the Delfin LNG project under development offshore Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.
Delfin FLNG 1 will be the first floating liquefaction facility in the US and the largest FLNG project globally, with an expected export capacity of 4.4 million tonnes of LNG per year, the company said.
Delfin has secured investments from Global Infrastructure Partners — a part of BlackRock — as well as Mitsui OSK Lines, Diameter Capital Partners and Vitol, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
The development was delayed for months following an explosion on a pipeline near Holly Beach and Johnson Bayou in Louisiana expected to supply gas to the facility.
In March, Eduard Ruijs, head of investment at Vitol, which holds a stake in the project, told Reuters the Delfin development would have secured financial approval earlier if not for the pipeline blast.
The project is backed by long-term LNG sales agreements with leading global energy companies including Vitol, Expand Energy, Centrica and Gunvor.
With the first vessel scheduled to begin LNG production in 2030, the company continues to move towards securing FIDs for FLNG vessels two and three over the coming year, Delfin said.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston and Sumit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Nathan Crooks, Shilpi Majumdar and Matthew Lewis)