The US Department of Energy (DOE) has conditionally authorised Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to be exported from a proposed terminal in Coos Bay on the Oregon coast in the Pacific Northwest of the country.

Jordan Cove LNG terminal (pictured, illustration) is the seventh project to get such authorisation and is expected to export the equivalent of 0.8 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per day (Bcf/d) for a period of 20 years.

The $7 billion (£4.2bn) project, which is led by energy firm Veresen, includes a 230-mile pipeline and a plant that would cool the gas into a liquid state for shipment on tankers.

The DOE said it conducted an “extensive, careful review of the application” to export from the LNG terminal.

It added: “Among other factors, the Department considered the economic, energy security and environmental impacts – as well as public comments for and against the application and nearly 200,000 public comments related to the associated analysis of the cumulative impacts of increased LNG exports.”

Commercial LNG production at the facility is expected in early 2019 once the company receives approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to commence construction.