Department of Energy September 8, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department of Energy (DOE) gives notice of receipt of an application, filed on August 3, 2016 (Application), by Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P. (Freeport Expansion), FLNG Liquefaction, LLC (FLIQ1), FLNG Liquefaction 2, LLC (FLIQ2) and FLNG Liquefaction 3, LLC (FLIQ3) (collectively FLEX) to amend a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export authorization permitting exports to any country that has, or in the future develops, the capacity to import LNG and with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement (FTA) requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas and with which trade is not prohibited by U.S. law or policy (non-FTA countries). Specifically, FLEX requests DOE to amend the LNG export authorization issued in DOE/FE Order Nos. 3357, 3357-A, 3357-B and 3357-C (collectively Order No. 3357) in order to allow FLEX to engage in additional long-term, multi-contract exports of domestically produced LNG in a volume up to the equivalent of 125 billion cubic feet per year (Bcf/yr) of natural gas (0.34 Bcf/day) for a period of 20 years. This additional volume of LNG is incremental to the equivalent of 146 Bcf/yr of natural gas (0.4 Bcf/day), which is the volume of LNG that FLEX is currently authorized to export pursuant to Order No. 3357, and to the equivalent of 511 Bcf/yr of natural gas (1.4 Bcf/day), which is the volume of LNG that FLEX is currently authorized to export pursuant to DOE/FE Order Nos. 3282, 3282-A, 3282- B, and 3282-C. FLEX requests that all other terms and conditions of Order No. 3357 apply to the additional 125 Bcf/yr of LNG export authority proposed in the Application. Through the Amendment, FLEX seeks to align the authorized export volumes of LNG to non-FTA countries from the Freeport Liquefaction Project \1\ (the Liquefaction Project) with the optimized increased production capacity design of the facilities approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in FERC Docket No. CP15-518-000 of 782 Bcf/yr (2.14 Bcf/day). The Application was filed under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA). Additional details can be found in FLEX's Application, posted on the DOE/FE Web site at: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/08/f33/ 16-108-LNGapp.pdf Protests, motions to intervene, notices of intervention, and written comments are invited.

The Commission previously issued a Notice in the Federal Register (81 FR 38169, 6/13/2016) requesting public comments on FERC Forms 6, 580, 1, 1-F, and 3-Q. The Commission received no comments regarding FERC Forms 6 and 580. This 30-day notice only solicits comments on FERC Forms 6 and 580. FERC received comments regarding FERC Forms 1, 1-F, and 3-Q and will address those comments in a subsequent notice also in Docket No. IC16-11-000. In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting these information collections (FERC Form 6 [Annual Report of Oil Pipeline Companies] and FERC Form 580 [Interrogatory on Fuel and Energy Purchase Practices]) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection requirements. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below.