Woodside Energy’s final investment decision (FID) on the $17.5 billion Louisiana LNG terminal was a stunner. For one thing, only 1 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of the project’s 16.5 MMtpa (2.2 Bcf/d) of capacity is under contract — U.S. LNG export projects typically have commitments for two-thirds or more of their output before pulling the trigger. The project will also have an outsized impact on gas flows in a region already struggling to keep up, and it may well upend plans for other projects in the works. In today’s RBN blog, we take a closer look at Louisiana LNG, Woodside’s daring development approach, and the terminal’s impacts on gas demand, gas flows and pre-FID projects.