May 23 (Reuters) - U.S. energy regulators approved Gulf

LNG's request for five more years until 2029 to build a proposed

liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant at the site of an

existing LNG import plant in Mississippi, according to a federal

filing on Thursday.

Gulf LNG is one of more than three dozen LNG export plants

under development in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, some of which

have been under development for many years. The U.S. is the

biggest global LNG exporter.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

approved construction of the Gulf LNG export project in July

2019. That order gave the company until July 2024 to construct

the facility and place it into service.

In February, Gulf LNG requested five more years until July

2029 to complete the project. FERC approved that request on

Thursday.

Gulf LNG is half-owned by units of U.S. pipeline company

Kinder Morgan ( KMI ), with the other half owned by units of

several investors, including Blackstone, Warburg Pincus

, Kelso and Co and Chatham Asset Management, according to

the Gulf LNG website.

Gulf LNG said in its FERC filing that it needed more time to

build the plant in part because the "pandemic created challenges

for commencing construction and executing international

commercial agreements."

Gulf LNG also said in the filing that its involvement in

litigation with existing import customers has hampered its

ability to execute offtake contracts. The company said it

anticipates a resolution of the dispute this year.

Gulf LNG did not name the current LNG offtake buyers. The

last LNG imported to Gulf LNG was in 2011, according to the U.S.

Energy Information Administration.

Kinder Morgan ( KMI ) said in a statement it was pleased with FERC's

extension, but did not answer questions about the last time Gulf

LNG received imports or when the company planned to make a final

investment decision.

Gulf LNG proposed to build two liquefaction trains at the

site. Together the two trains could turn about 1.4 billion cubic

feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas into roughly 10.9 million

tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG.

One billion cubic feet of natural gas is enough to supply

about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.