据路透社报道，周五，美国能源监管机构批准了桑普拉能源公司的请求，其位于路易斯安那州价值100亿美元的卡梅隆液化天然气（LNG）出口工厂启动首条液化生产线的商业服务。

根据数据公司Refinitiv的数据，该工厂5月份出口了第一批货物，这使该工厂成为第四大在美国投入服务的液化天然气出口工厂，该工厂总共出口了四批货物。

随着各国寻求使其工业和电力部门不再依赖煤炭，天然气的使用在世界各地都在快速增长，天然气在燃烧时排放的二氧化碳大约是煤炭的一半。

卡梅隆拥有三条生产线，1号生产线在五月中旬开始生产液化天然气，桑普拉预计2号和3号生产线将于2020年第一和第二季度投入服务。

卡梅隆LNG这三条生产线年产能约1200万吨液化天然气，即约每天17亿立方英尺的天然气，而10亿立方英尺的天然气足够每天为500万户美国家庭提供燃料。

当美国切尼尔能源公司在2016年2月从路易斯安那州Sabine Pass出口第一批液化天然气货物前，美国并没有出口任何燃料。

自那以后，美国在2018年成为世界第四大液化天然气出口国，仅次于卡塔尔、澳大利亚和马来西亚，并有望在2019年超过马来西亚，成为第三大液化天然气出口国。分析人士预计，到21世纪20年代中期，美国将成为世界上最大的液化天然气出口国。

仅从目前在建的工厂来看，美国液化天然气的出口能力预计将从目前的63亿立方英尺/天，到2019年底上升到72亿立方英尺/天，到2020年上升至99亿立方英尺/天。

卡梅隆由桑普拉的附属公司、法国道达尔、日本三井以及日本三菱和日本航运巨头NYK的合资公司组成的合资企业，桑普拉间接拥有卡梅隆50.2%的股份。工程公司McDermott国际公司和日本千代田公司为卡梅隆的主要承包商。

桑普拉的长期目标是每年出口4500万吨北美液化天然气。其卡梅隆正处于开发双生产线第二阶段；与此同时，该公司计划分两阶段，将其位于德克萨斯州亚瑟港液化天然气出口工厂在墨西哥下加利福尼亚现有的科斯塔·阿祖尔液化天然气进口终端增加出口设施。

詹晓晶摘自路透社

原文如下：

U.S. approves commercial service for Sempra Louisiana Cameron LNG export plant

U.S. energy regulators on Friday approved Sempra Energy’s request to commence commercial service of the first liquefaction train at its $10 billion Cameron liquefied natural gas export (LNG) terminal in Louisiana.

The plant exported its first cargo in May, making it the fourth big LNG export terminal operating in the United States. In total, the facility has exported four cargoes, according to data firm Refinitiv.

Natural gas use is growing fast around the world as countries wean their industrial and power sectors off coal as they seek cleaner forms of energy. Gas emits about half the carbon dioxide of coal when burned.

There are three liquefaction trains at Cameron. The first started producing LNG in mid May. Sempra has said it expects Cameron 2 and 3 will enter service in the first and second quarters of 2020.

Cameron is designed to produce about 12 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG, or roughly 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas. One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to fuel about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.

When the United States sent out its first LNG cargo from Cheniere Energy Inc’s Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana in February 2016, the country was not exporting any of the fuel.

Since then, the United States became the world’s fourth biggest LNG exporter in 2018, behind Qatar, Australia and Malaysia, and is on track to overtake Malaysia and become the third biggest in 2019. By the mid 2020s, analysts expect the United States will become the biggest LNG exporter in the world.

Just looking at terminals under construction, U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to jump to 7.2 bcfd by the end of 2019 and 9.9 bcfd in 2020 from 6.3 bcfd now.

Cameron is owned by affiliates of Sempra, Total SA, Mitsui & Co Ltd, and Japan LNG Investment LLC, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corp and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK). Sempra indirectly owns 50.2% of Cameron.

McDermott International Inc and Chiyoda Corp are the lead contractors at Cameron.

Sempra has a long-term goal of exporting 45 MTPA of North American LNG and is developing a second two-train phase at Cameron, the Port Arthur LNG export terminal in Texas and plans to add export facilities in two phases at its existing Costa Azul LNG import terminal in Baja California in Mexico.