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Sempra Energy Submits Port Arthur Liquefaction-Export Facilities For Pre-File Review With FERC

SRE | March 23, 2015

SAN DIEGO, March 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) today announced its subsidiary, Port Arthur LNG, has requested that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) initiate the pre-filing review for the company's proposed Port Arthur LNG natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Port Arthur, Texas.

The proposed liquefaction project is designed to include: two natural gas liquefaction trains with a total export capability of approximately 10 million tons per annum, or 1.4 billion cubic feet per day; two 160,000-cubic-meter storage tanks; marine facilities for vessel berthing and loading; natural gas liquids and refrigerant storage; feed gas pre-treatment; truck loading and unloading areas; and combustion turbine generators for self-generation of electrical power.

On March 20, Port Arthur LNG also filed a permit application with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for authorization to export the LNG produced from the proposed project to all current and future Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries and expects to submit to the DOE an application for authorization to export the LNG produced from Port Arthur LNG to non-FTA countries in the coming months.

"We have gained valuable experience working with the FERC during the permitting process for the Cameron LNG liquefaction project in Louisiana," said Octavio M. Simoes, president of Sempra LNG. "If we are successful, this project would provide long-term economic benefits and create new jobs in the region, while strengthening America's role as a global energy leader."

The proposed project would utilize a portion of Sempra's approximately 2,900 acres of property with 3 miles of waterfront on the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel and 1.25 miles of waterfront on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The company's Port Arthur LNG site previously was evaluated and certified by the FERC in 2006 for a proposed import regasification facility and pipeline and also was permitted by the Texas Department of Transportation for the potential relocation of a portion of State Highway 87.

Development of the Port Arthur LNG liquefaction project is contingent on completing the required commercial agreements, securing all necessary permits and approvals, obtaining financing and incentives, reaching a final investment decision and other factors associated with the investment.

Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, another subsidiary of Sempra Energy, is proposing to develop a natural gas pipeline project consisting of two separate 42-inch diameter pipeline segments that would interconnect with intra- and interstate pipelines to the north and south of the proposed Port Arthur LNG liquefaction project.

Sempra LNG successfully permitted Cameron LNG, which is now in construction. Port Arthur LNG is one of three liquefaction projects being developed by Sempra Energy. The other projects include the proposed expansion of Cameron LNG with trains No. 4 and No. 5 and liquefaction facilities at Energia Costa Azul in Baja California, Mexico.

Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2014 revenues of $11 billion. The Sempra Energy companies' 17,000 employees serve more than 32 million consumers worldwide.

This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words like "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "intends," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "potential," "target," "pursue," "goals," "outlook," "maintain" or similar expressions, or discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Factors among others that could cause our actual results and future actions to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements include:: local, regional, national and international economic, competitive, political, legislative and regulatory conditions and developments; actions and the timing of actions, including issuances of permits to construct and licenses for operation, by the California Public Utilities Commission, California State Legislature, U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, California Energy Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board, and other regulatory, governmental and environmental bodies in the United States and other countries in which we operate; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction, maintenance and capital projects, including risks in obtaining, maintaining or extending permits, licenses, certificates and other authorizations on a timely basis and risks in obtaining adequate and competitive financing for such projects; energy markets, including the timing and extent of changes and volatility in commodity prices, and the impact of any protracted reduction in oil prices from historical averages; the impact on the value of our natural gas storage assets from low natural gas prices, low volatility of natural gas prices and the inability to procure favorable long-term contracts for natural gas storage services; delays in the timing of costs incurred and the timing of the regulatory agency authorization to recover such costs in rates from customers; capital markets conditions, including the availability of credit and the liquidity of our investments; inflation, interest and currency exchange rates; the impact of benchmark interest rates, generally Moody's A-rated utility bond yields, on our California Utilities' cost of capital; the availability of electric power, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the North American transmission grid, pipeline explosions and equipment failures and the decommissioning of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, natural gas storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of our proprietary information and the personal information of our customers, terrorist attacks that threaten system operations and critical infrastructure, and wars; the ability to win competitively bid infrastructure projects against a number of strong competitors willing to aggressively bid for these projects; weather conditions, conservation efforts, natural disasters, catastrophic accidents, and other events that may disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries; risks that our partners or counterparties will be unable or unwilling to fulfill their contractual commitments; risks posed by decisions and actions of third parties who control the operations of investments in which we do not have a controlling interest; risks inherent with nuclear power facilities and radioactive materials storage, including the catastrophic release of such materials, the disallowance of the recovery of the investment in, or operating costs of, the nuclear facility due to an extended outage and facility closure, and increased regulatory oversight; business, regulatory, environmental and legal decisions and requirements; expropriation of assets by foreign governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on reliability of San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E) electric transmission and distribution system due to increased amount and variability of power supply from renewable energy sources; the impact on competitive customer rates of the growth in distributed and local power generation and the corresponding decrease in demand for power delivered through SDG&E's electric transmission and distribution system; the inability or determination not to enter into long-term supply and sales agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements due to insufficient market interest, unattractive pricing or other factors; the resolution of litigation; and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's website at www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Sempra International, LLC, and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC, are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and Sempra International, LLC, and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC, are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. Sempra International's underlying entities include Sempra Mexico and Sempra South American Utilities. Sempra U.S. Gas & Power's underlying entities include Sempra Renewables and Sempra Natural Gas.