Currently, about 55 LNG terminals are on the drawing board to serve North America (mainly the United States). The Sempra Energy Cameron LNG project in Hackenberry, LA, approved in September 2003 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), marked the first new LNG plant granted approval in the United States in 25 years. Besides the Hackenberry facility, Sempra signed a deal with BP in December 2003 to supply Indonesian LNG to a proposed receiving terminal in Baja California. The gas would then be piped to U.S. West Coast markets. Also, in December 2003, Shell announced plans to build a $700 million LNG receiving terminal, called Gulf Landing, 38 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The project is slated to handle 1 Bcf/d of LNG starting in 2008 or 2009. Other possible LNG projects include: an offshore LNG receiving terminal called Port Pelican, located 40 miles off the Louisiana coast (ChevronTexaco); a $600 million facility near Port Arthur, Texas (ExxonMobil); a terminal in Sabine Pass, LA (Cheniere LNG) approved by FERC in March 2005; and a $450 million terminal in eastern Mississippi (Gulf LNG Energy).
In December 2003, EIA issued a report, "The Global Liquefied Natural Gas Market: Status and Outlook,” in conjunction with a Department of Energy LNG summit. At the summit, then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham pledged to make the process of licensing and building LNG receiving terminals easier. In March 2004, an agreement between FERC, the Coast Guard, and the Department of Transportation aims at streamlining the process regarding environmental, safety, and security reviews of proposed LNG projects.