For 1st time, U.S. approves controversial LNG production ship

American regulators for the first time approved construction of a $5-billion floating platform in U. S. waters to produce liquefied natural gas for export. The controversial project led by Delfin Midstream of Houston, which includes several foreign investors, on Wednesday was granted a license for the project by the Maritime Administration.

The project also received export approval from the Department of Energy for a total of three planned vessels. The Trump administration approved the project in March 2025 under the Unleashing American Energy executive order, opponents claim, without adequate environmental review or a single public hearing. The U. S.

Department of Transportation in a release stated that the license will “secure America’s energy dominance and deliver affordable energy to families,” although critics question how an export program would benefit prices for domestic consumers.

Delfin has already secured purchase agreements with several foreign buyers; ocean carrier MOL of Japan is also connected to the project. Approval for the floating port project – the largest in the world – was denied under the Biden administration in April 2024.

The Trump administration in January shifted licensing authority for deepwater projects from the Coast Guard to Marad. Delifn was one of two deepwater port licenses issued by Marad. The other is Texas GulfLink, a crude oil export terminal under construction off the Texas coast. Delfin expects to begin production in 2030, at 4.

4 million metric tons per year capacity. The other vessels, to be launched in the next year, will bring capacity to 13. 2 million mt/year, with exports of 1. 8 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

“This is the first offshore LNG export terminal ever licensed in the United States, and getting here took the better part of a decade,” said Marad Administrator Stephen M. Carmel, at a media briefing. “That patience is the price of doing something genuinely new. Every cargo that leaves this port is a commitment the United States is able to keep.”

Trump lifted a Biden ban on LNG exports to non-Free Trade Agreement countries in 2025. Samsung Heavy Industries of South Korea will construct the platforms, which will be located 40 miles off the coast of Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.