The Department of Energy has approved an export permit extension for a major U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter, fulfilling President Donald Trump’s promise to accelerate exports of LNG to Europe and Asia. 

Energy Secretary Chris Wright approved the permit extension for Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC on Wednesday, allowing the Texas-based project to complete its construction three years after its original deadline. 

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“Exporting U.S. LNG supports American jobs, bolsters our national security and strengthens America’s position as a world energy leader,” Wright said in a statement. “President Trump has pledged to restore energy dominance for the American people, and I am proud to help deliver on that agenda with today’s permit extension.” 

Golden Pass LNG, which is co-owned by QatarEnergy LNG and Exxon Mobil Corp, first asked regulators for an extension in August 2024. 

It had been facing a deadline of November 2026 to bring the export terminal online before its project approval permit expired. 

Last year, the company told Reuters that it planned to produce LNG by the end of 2025 “with commercial operations following thereafter.” While export operations could very well be underway before next year, the company said it was seeking the extension to “build in time for contingencies.” 

Once completed, the project is expected to export up to 2.57 billion cubic feet of LNG per day, making it the ninth large-scale export terminal operating within the United States. 

“Golden Pass was the first project approved for exports to non-free trade agreement countries by DOE during the first Trump Administration, and it is gratifying that this project is so close to being able to deliver its first LNG,” Tala Goudarzi, acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, said in a statement.

The project’s permit approval extension is the third LNG-related approval issued by the Department of Energy under President Donald Trump, who vowed to unleash the country’s capabilities with the energy source on Day One. 

Shortly after being sworn into office, Trump ordered the restart of reviews of applications for approvals of new liquified natural gas export projects, effectively ending a nearly yearlong freeze implemented by President Joe Biden. 

In a sweeping energy-related executive order aimed at “unleashing American energy,” Trump ordered the energy secretary to restart the LNG project reviews “as expeditiously as possible” in an effort to increase exports abroad.

The order came roughly a year after the Biden administration initiated a pause on new LNG export approvals to countries without free trade agreements with the U.S. to study the environmental and economic impacts of LNG exports. Critics blasted the pause as unconstitutional, and it was overturned by a federal judge in Louisiana last summer.

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The Biden administration ultimately approved a new export authorization application for an LNG project in August 2024, but Republicans continued to accuse Biden of upholding the pause for months until the DOE released its environmental and economic impact study in December. 

Since Trump took office, DOE has also issued a new export authorization for the Commonwealth LNG project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, and moved to remove barriers to using LNG as marine fuel.