Golden Pass LNG enters the game. American terminal prepares first export

The Golden Pass LNG terminal at Sabine Pass, Texas entered another important start-up stage. After the first production installation was launched, the Federal regulators allowed the shipment of the first LNG loads. ToCargo The inaugural LNG party is expected to take place around 20 April.

The first gas is coming, the first charge is coming closer

Golden Pass LNG, joint venture company QatarEnergy (70%) and ExxonMobil (30%), reported the production of the first LNG batch at Sabine Pass terminal on March 30. This is an important moment, because the facility is moving from construction and commissioning to export market entry. According to the company, the first exports to customers are expected to start in the second quarter of 2026.

A key step was also the permission of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ship the so-called cargo commissioning, i.e. cargo associated with the start-up phase of the installation. According to Reuters' information, the first methane tanker is about to approach to the terminal About 20 April. It's supposed to be HL Sea Eagle, a unit chartered by ExxonMobil, which had already delivered LNG to Greece in early April and then headed for the Atlantic.

One of the largest LNG terminals in the USA

Terminal Golden Pass LNG will have three production installations with a total capacity of 18.1 million tonnes of LNG per year. The first is to produce about 6 million tonnes per year with full capacity. After regasification, this means about 25 billion m3 of gas per year, which is more than annual gas consumption in Poland in many recent years.

The importance of the project is also highlighted by the terminal infrastructure itself. The facility consists of five LNG tanks with a capacity of 155 thousand m3 each and two quays capable of handling the largest methane tanks in the world. Golden Pass uses part of the existing infrastructure of the former import terminal, which was one of its advantages over investments built from scratch.

Investment for over $10 billion

The Golden Pass LNG project is one of the most important U.S. gas investments in recent years. Reuters says his cost was over $10 billion. The investment was delayed, including after implementation problems and cost increases, but it is now entering the real exploitation phase. This is important news for the market, because the launch of new high power export in the US, it increases the flexibility of supply to customers in Europe and Asia.

The ownership structure is not insignificant. QatarEnergy controls 70% of the project's shares and ExxonMobil controls 30%. This means that Golden Pass is at the same time an American export terminal and an element of the long-term Qatari strategy of the company, which has for years secured the position also outside the Persian Gulf.

A new supply burden can move towards Europe

Although the direction of the first cargo has not yet been officially indicated, the market assumes that one of the first beneficiaries of the Golden Pass launch will be Europe. Reuters reported that as of June 2026, Italian Edison is expected to start receiving LNG from this terminal, partly in place of catharic supplies disrupted by the armed conflict in the Middle East. This shows that Golden Pass is not just another export point on the US map, but a tool to quickly direct volumes where the market is experiencing a shortage of raw material. To this we will return in the next text: "Ormuz and LNG. Does the Iran War favour US gas exporters?”.

In practice, this means further strengthening the American coast of the Gulf of Mexico as one of the major hubs of global LNG trade. For Europe, this is another signal that security of gas supply today depends on the possibility of importing raw materials from different directions. Golden Pass enters this agreement as a project of scale, which in the current geopolitical situation is Undoubtedly "attractive".