Its announcement late on Tuesday underscored the industry's conviction that global LNG demand, particularly in Asia, will rise sharply despite a slump in prices this year.

But the race is on for LNG producers to approve their own projects before the market is deemed oversupplied.

A total of 60 million tonnes a year (mtpa) in liquefaction capacity, including Anadarko's 12.88 mtpa, has now been given the go-ahead since October 2018, when Royal Dutch Shell signed off on its 14 mtpa LNG Canada project.

That triggered a long-awaited wave of production project approvals.