Action on North American liquified-natural-gas export-terminal projects accelerated late last month as regulators advanced projects on the Pacific coast and U.S. politicians debated faster approvals as a "geopolitical tool" to counter Russia's moves in the Ukraine.
On March 24, the estimated $7.7-billion Jordan Cove Energy terminal in Coos Bay, Ore., became the first LNG project on the West Coast—and the first greenfield project in the U.S.—to win conditional U.S. Energy Dept. approval for export to countries without a free-trade agreement. Previous approvals were of import terminals converting to exports on the East and Gulf coasts.