Cove Point LNG filed an application with the DOE last month, requesting blanket authorization to export previously-imported LNG in volumes of up to the equivalent of 70 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas over a two-year period by vessel from its existing LNG import/export terminal in Calvert County.
The LNG terminal operator requests this new authorization to replace its existing, essentially identical, blanket authorization to export previously imported LNG, which will expire on July 7, 2026.
Accordingly, Cove Point requests that DOE grants this “application for renewed authorization prior to that date, so as to allow Cove Point to retain, without interruption, its authority to provide exports of previously imported LNG under short-term transactions, if and when operationally, contractually, and economically desirable.”
Cove Point requests the renewed blanket authorization (like its existing one) solely for LNG
previously imported by vessel at the terminal from foreign sources because its long-term authorizations encompass short-term exports of domestically produced natural gas.
The company requests authorization for exports to both FTA and non-FTA countries.
Bi-directional facility
The Cove Point terminal has long been used to import LNG.
Beginning in 2018, Cove Point began to export LNG, rendering it a bi-directional facility capable of both imports and exports of LNG.
The liquefaction project includes one liquefaction train with a capacity to produce up to 5.75 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG as well as other related facilities.
Since 2018, the Cove Point terminal has operated predominantly as an export terminal.
In 2023, Berkshire Hathaway Energy completed the $3.3 billion deal with Dominion Energy, boosting its stake in the Cove Point LNG terminal.
Dominion sold its 50 percent noncontrolling limited partner interest in Cove Point LNG, to Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which operates the facility and owns a 100 percent general partner and 25 percent limited partner interest.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy, via BHE GT&S, has a total ownership interest of 75 percent.
A subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners holds the remaining 25 percent limited partnership interest in Cove Point LNG.
LNG imports up in 2026
While Cove Point expects that most LNG exported from the terminal will be under long-term contracts and authorized under its long-term export authorizations, continuing authorization to allow other exports on a spot or short-term basis provides Cove Point increased flexibility to respond to market conditions and promote the maximum utilization of the terminal, it said.
Cove Point noted that it continues to receive imports of LNG, in relatively small volumes, when
warranted by domestic market conditions and needs.
The terminal received imported LNG equivalent to approximately 1.2 Bcf in 2024, approximately 1.2 Bcf in 2025, and approximately 4.7 Bcf already so far in early 2026.
“While none of this imported volume was subsequently re-exported, the requisite DOE authorization allowing for the potential re-export provides important flexibility allowing Cove Point (and its customers) to react to market conditions and to promote the maximum utilization of its LNG terminal,” it said.
“Indeed, market participants may be more interested in importing LNG when seeing a potentially attractive opportunity to serve the US market if they know that they retain the ability to re-export at least some of the imported LNG later if warranted in response to changing market forces and the pricing available in different markets,” Cove Point said.
Thus, Cove Point’s long-standing blanket authority to export previously imported LNG potentially may increase its receipt of imported volumes of gas available for domestic consumption, as well as providing the benefits of incremental LNG exports, Cove Point added.
