Trump administration issues license for floating LNG facility that Biden administration stonewalled

Maritime Administration (MARAD), a subagency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, issued a license Friday authorizing Delfin LNG to construct a floating liquefied natural gas export terminal approximately 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. 

The facility will connect four floating LNG units to existing onshore pipelines, according to Natural Gas Intelligence, and transport the gas to the global market from U.S. federal waters. 

According to a letter sent in September from the government watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust to the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the first Trump administration had issued a record of decisions conditionally approving the project in 2017, but it had not yet granted it a license. The congressionally mandated timeline to approve or deny a license was 356 days, but MARAD delayed it seven years. 

Former President Joe Biden issued a moratorium on LNG export permits to countries without a free trade agreement with the U.S. in January 2024. The Washington Free Beacon reported in September that MARAD informed Delfin that the agency wouldn’t issue the final license due to changes in Delfin’s “ownership, design, financing and operations.” 

The Department of Energy approved an export permit extension for Delphin LNG earlier this month. “While the previous administration pursued a strategy of energy subtraction, I am proud to be working with President Trump to advance a strategy of energy addition – embracing all forms of energy that are affordable, reliable and secure,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. 

The export permit extension was the fourth LNG-related approval from DOE since President Trump took office, following an export approval to Commonwealth LNG on February 14, an order on rehearing removing barriers for the use of LNG as bunkering fuel announced on February 28, and an approval providing the Golden Pass LNG terminal more time to commence exports issued March 5.

According to Natural Gas Intelligence, Delfin expects to begin exporting LNG from the facility by 2029.