Kinder Morgan, the largest energy infrastructure company in North America, announced yesterday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has authorized its subsidiaries Elba Liquefaction Company, L.L.C. and Southern LNG Company, L.L.C. to go ahead with the $2 billion Elba Liquefaction Project.

The project will be constructed and operated at the existing Elba Island LNG Terminal near Savannah, Georgia, with the first of 10 liquefaction units to be placed in service in the second quarter of 2018 and the remaining nine units coming online before the end of 2018. This project is supported by a 20-year contract with Shell.

Kinder Morgan also announced today that Elba Express Company L.L.C. (EEC) and Southern Natural Gas Company, L.L.C. (SNG) have received from FERC Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity for the EEC Modification Project and SNG Zone 3 Expansion Project, respectively. Together these projects total $306 million and include additional compression and related work for north-to-south capacity expansions on Elba Express Pipeline that will supply additional gas to industrials and utilities in Georgia and Florida and to Elba Island for liquefaction. Facilities for these pipeline projects are expected to be placed in service late in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The company owns an interest in or operates approximately 84,000 miles of pipelines and approximately 180 terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO2 and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals, and handle bulk materials like coal and petroleum coke.