Over the past month, start-up and commissioning activities have been completed, including the arrival of the facility's first two LNG commissioning cargoes and obtaining the approval to commence operations from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

"With today's announcement, our LNG business now has two fully operational North American receipt terminals with the unique ability to serve suppliers in both the Atlantic and Pacific markets," said Donald E. Felsinger, chairman and chief executive officer of Sempra Energy. "This is a business supported by long term contracts that will provide shareholders with predictable cash flows well into the future."

Sempra LNG owns 100 percent of the Cameron LNG facility and has sold 40 percent of its processing capacity to Italy's Eni S.p.A. under a 20-year terminal services agreement. Last month, Sempra LNG announced it had signed a flexible agreement to purchase up to 50 cargoes from one of the world's largest suppliers of liquefied natural gas, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited 3 (RL 3), an affiliate of RasGas Company Limited (RasGas). The agreement allows cargoes to begin Aug. 1, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2010. Each cargo could contain up to 4.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

"We're proud of the milestones achieved at Cameron LNG, completing construction, successfully meeting performance standards and beginning commercial operations in time to support the recently announced agreement with RasGas and the existing capacity agreement with Eni," said Darcel L. Hulse, president and chief executive officer of Sempra LNG. "We plan to expand on this success by continuing to negotiate with other parties interested in acquiring either long- or short-term capacity at Cameron LNG."

Cameron LNG's first cargo arrived June 21 aboard BP's British Diamond, an LNG carrier bringing supplies from Trinidad. A second LNG ship, BP's British Emerald, arrived at the terminal June 30 with a cargo from Trinidad. Cameron LNG is capable of processing 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas.

Sempra LNG's other LNG receipt terminal, Energia Costa Azul, is located in Baja California, Mexico, and commenced operations in May 2008. Energia Costa Azul is the first LNG receipt terminal on the west coast of North America and is capable of processing 1.0 Bcf/d.

LNG is simply natural gas in liquid form. To reach a liquid state, natural gas must be cooled. The liquid gas is then transported aboard specially designed carriers for delivery to receipt terminals. These receipt terminals store LNG, return it to its gaseous state and dispatch it into pipelines for customer use. In LNG's 50-plus year shipping history, LNG carriers have traveled more than 100 million miles without a major incident.

Sempra LNG develops and operates LNG receipt terminals serving North American markets. Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2008 revenues of nearly $11 billion. The Sempra Energy companies' 13,600 employees serve more than 29 million consumers worldwide.