Cove Point LNG ships first commercial cargo, Japan set for May delivery

First commercial cargo from the Dominion Energy Cove Point LNG project in Lusby, Maryland, left the facility on Monday onboard the Adam LNG carrier.

Data provided by VesselsValue shows the vessel’s current draft is 11.4 meters, indicating it is around 91 percent full. The exact destination of the cargo is unclear.

Dominion Energy started commercial operations at its Cove Point LNG plant, the second US facility to produce LNG from shale gas, earlier this month, after the commissioning cargo departed the Cove Point facility on March 2 onboard Shell’s Gemmata LNG carrier and landed at the Dragon import terminal in the UK on March 21.

Following the start of the commercial operation on April 9, representatives of Sumitomo, Tokyo Gas and Kansai Electric, visited the facility.

ST Cove Point, a joint venture between Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and Tokyo Gas booked 2.3 million tons of LNG produced from the plant per annually for a 20-year term.

According to Sumitomo, ST Cove Point will export 1.4 million tons per year to Tokyo Gas Group while 0.8 million tons per year will be delivered to Kansai Electric Group via Sumitomo’s unit PSE.

The first shipment will be sometime around late April, and it is planned to be received at Tokyo Gas Negishi LNG receiving terminal located in Kanagawa prefecture a month later.

Speaking at the media briefing following the visit to the facility, head of Sumitomo’s LNG business development and natural gas & LNG business department, Hirofumi Nakamura, said the remaining 100,000 tons of LNG will serve as a buffer for Tokyo Gas and Kansai Electric enabling them to cope with seasonal fluctuations, Platts reports.

However, in case the volume remains unused it will be sold in the spot market, Nakamura said.

The $4 billion Cove Point facility has a nameplate capacity of 5.25 mtpa.