SULPHUR, La. (KLFY) -- Woodside Energy broke ground today on Louisiana's $17.5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Sulphur, marking the largest foreign investment in the state's history.

The massive project, located near Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish, is expected to bring billions in economic impact to the Gulf Coast and create thousands of jobs, with the facility permitted for a total capacity of 27.6 million tons per annum.

Leaders of the community and state and federal governments attended the groundbreaking ceremony, including Governor Jeff Landry.

"Everywhere around the globe, they're looking to the United States because we can export stability, and if you think you're not going to need LNG, think about what the world needs over the next ten years, we have to double the amount of electrical generation capacity," said Landry.

According to officials, Louisiana LNG is expected to support tens of thousands of high-quality jobs in the United States, which will strengthen global energy security and generate billions of dollars in local and national revenues for infrastructure, schools and services.

Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill provided an overview of the construction timeline, noting that the facility will be built in phases.

"Our target is 2029, and that's from the first train, second train, 2030, third train, 2031, so yeah it's going to be exciting for the next few years ahead of us," said O'Neill.

The workforce has already ramped up to nearly 900 people on site, and Woodside is aiming to hire about 4,000 people at the facility.

Officials say the facility will play a critical role in stabilizing energy supply chains, supporting allies abroad and bolstering the U.S. economy at home.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KLFY. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KLFY staff before being published.

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