The U.S. Department of Energy has authorized Argent LNG to export liquefied natural gas from its proposed Louisiana export terminal to countries that have free-trade agreements with the U.S., giving the developer a key federal approval as it works toward a final investment decision on the project.

Argent LNG is a privately held U.S. company developing an LNG export terminal at Port Fourchon, Louisiana, about 100 miles (160 km) south of New Orleans. The project is designed to export up to 25 million metric tons per year of LNG, which would make it one of the larger proposed LNG facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The DOE said Argent LNG may export up to the equivalent of 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year for a 20-year term beginning on the date of the facility's first commercial export, from its planned project.

The authorization, granted on Thursday, also allows the company to export any unused volumes during a three-year make-up period following the end of the export term.

Argent LNG is authorized to export LNG on its own behalf and as an agent for other parties, the DOE authorization said.

The approval covers exports to U.S. free-trade agreement partners including Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, South Korea and Singapore, as well as any country with which the U.S. may enter a qualifying free-trade agreement in the future.

The export authorization is separate from Argent's pending request to ship LNG to countries that do not have free-trade agreements with the U.S., the DOE said.

The company filed applications for both FTA and non-FTA export authority in March, with the non-FTA request subject to a broader public-interest review by DOE, the document said.

In January 2025, Argent LNG signed a non-binding agreement with Bangladesh under which state-owned Petrobangla could purchase up to 5 million metric tons of LNG annually from the proposed facility.

The developer has also signed a market participation agreement with Turkish energy bourse Enerji Piyasalari Isletme AS (EPIAS), a move which the firm says is aimed at moving U.S. gas into Europe.

If the project is built, Argent LNG would join a wave of U.S. Gulf Coast export projects as the U.S. seeks to maintain its position as the world's largest LNG exporter.