US LNG developer Sempra exported its first cargo from its Energia Costa Azul (ECA) LNG project located in Ensenada, Mexico, the subsidiary of US energy firm Sempra announced on July 8.

Phase 1 of the project will continue in the commissioning stage as it moves towards commercial operations, which is expected to commence in autumn. French supermajor TotalEnergies shipped the LNG cargo.

The facility began receiving feed gas in mid-April and first LNG was produced in early June. Under the terms of the licence granted to it by the US Department of Energy (DoE), Energia Costa Azul needed to begin exporting cargoes by mid-September.

The project is Mexico’s first facility on its Pacific Coast, which offers an ideal location with direct and fast shipping routes to energy-hungry Asia, particularly Northeast Asia. The facility is also able to draw on cheap US natural gas from the Permian Basin in New Mexico and West Texas. Phase 1 of the project boasts a production capacity of 3.25 mn tonnes per year (tpy).

“At a time of increased uncertainty in the global LNG trade, we are excited to begin shipping a new and reliable source of natural gas from North America's Pacific Coast to customers around the globe,” Justin Bird, Sempra Infrastructure’s chief executive officer said in a statement.

Phase 1 of the facility is a joint venture with French supermajor TotalEnergies, which possesses a 17% stake and has a long-term offtake agreement for 1.7 mn tpy. Japanese firm Mitsui also has a deal to purchase 800,000 tpy of super-chilled fuel from the plant.

Sempra is still examining whether to take a final investment decision (FID) on Phase 2 of the project, which would expand production capacity by an additional 12 mn tpy.