Kimmeridge’s Commonwealth LNG announced on June 18 that it had received a final order from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), upholding the authorisation to build the Commonwealth liquefaction terminal.

Receipt of the order clears the way for Commonwealth to take a final investment decision (FID) on the 9.5mn tonne per year (tpy) terminal in Louisiana, which the company is targeting for the third quarter of this year. If FID is taken as planned, Commonwealth anticipates first LNG production in 2029.

This comes after Commonwealth also received authorisation in February from the US Department of Energy (DoE) to export LNG to countries with which the US does not have a free-trade agreement (FTA). The company had been hit by former US President Joe Biden’s pause on LNG export authorisations last year, but quickly saw its fortunes turn around upon US President Donald Trump’s return to office.

The latest announcement marks the continuation of momentum for the project, with Commonwealth announcing long-term offtake agreements with Glencore and JERA in recent weeks. This week, Commonwealth also confirmed that the “major Asian buyer” it had signed an offtake agreement with in May was Malaysia’s Petronas. The company now has 4mn tpy of offtake covered by long-term agreements, and said it had “line of sight toward finalising its commercial book” ahead of FID.

Commonwealth said it was “pioneering an integrated wellhead-to-water strategy” in partnership with its upstream operating entity to deliver low cost, low-emission gas to the global market. The company anticipates generating an estimated $3.5bn in annual export revenue once the terminal is up and running, and expects to employ around 2,000 workers at the Commonwealth site at the peak of construction.

Upholding of the FERC authorisation comes after the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit remanded Commonwealth’s permit back to the regulator in July 2024, seeking more detail about the project’s potential effects on air quality at the site. The FERC has since amended Commonwealth’s environmental impact statement (EIS) and the company now has the final order from the regulator in hand.