Dominion Celebrates Cove Point LNG Operation

Dominion Energy officially celebrated the start of commercial operations at the Dominion Energy Cove Point LNG Liquefaction facility in Maryland, U.S., last week.

Construction of the facility began in October 2014, following more than three years of federal, state and local permit reviews and approvals. With a cost of approximately $4.1 billion, it is the largest construction project ever for Maryland and for Dominion Energy. In March this year, the LNG carrier Gemmata departed with the facility's first cargo, thus inaugurating the operation of the second LNG export plant in the lower 48 states. 

The liquefaction facility has a nameplate capacity of 5.25 million tons per year of LNG, equivalent to approximately 8.3 million gallons of LNG per day. The facility produces LNG for a joint venture of Sumitomo Corporation and Tokyo Gas and for GAIL, India's state natural gas company.

LNG exports from Cove Point are expected to expand Maryland's global exports by up to 50 percent and shrink the United States' international trade balance by $5 billion a year.

Dominion Energy is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,000 megawatts of electric generation, 14,800 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,600 miles of electric transmission lines. The company operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with approximately one trillion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves nearly six million utility and retail energy customers.