HOUSTON (Reuters) -Federal regulators on Thursday gave an Exxon Mobil and Qatar Energy LNG joint venture a 3-year extension to finish building their Golden Pass LNG plant, a regulatory document showed.

The extension was granted due to delays caused when lead construction contractor Zachry Holdings filed for bankruptcy in March, according to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commision filing.

The project, at the Sabine Pass site of a former gas-import terminal that was converted to process natural gas for LNG exports, is one of two large U.S. LNG facilities whose startups were expected to significantly expand supplies from the world’s top exporter of the superchilled fuel in the next 12 months.

The project’s original main contractor, Zachry Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying the Golden Pass project – known as GPX – was at least $2.4 billion over the original budget.

Golden Pass is yet to announce a new EPC contractor and has been in negotiations with McDermott International to be the lead contractor on the project.

(Reporting by Curtis Williams, Editing by Nick Zieminski)