The Manzanillo LNG import terminal on Mexico's Pacific coast is expected to receive its commissioning cargo in March after six months of delays caused by unfinished work on infrastructure around the facility.
Blackstone Capital, the US equity fund, will provide $2 billion to Cheniere Energy to help fund the Sabine Pass LNG plant being developed in Louisiana to export US LNG.
Golar LNG said it entered into contracts with Samsung Heavy Industries Co. of South Korea for a further two new LNG carriers as the LNG shipping business expands amid a growing number of projects and profitability, even as other shipping sectors remain in a slump.
The start-up of the Angola LNG project in southwest Africa has been delayed until May because of a continued testing programme.
Cheniere Energy said it expected to begin building two liquefaction Trains for its Sabine Pass LNG plant in Louisiana from June 2012 at the latest, as it advances plans to export surplus US natural gas by 2015.
GE Oil & Gas said it further expanded its presence in the Australian LNG sector by winning a contract from Apache Corp. of the US for feed-gas work linked to the Wheatstone LNG project.
Statoil, the Norwegian energy company, said its joint exploration programme offshore Tanzania in East Africa made a high-impact natural gas discovery, so far proving up to 5 trillion cubic feet of gas in place.
Teekay LNG, which owns or has a share in 21 LNG carriers, said it is about to complete the takeover of the Maersk LNG fleet, and one of the vessels will be chartered for three years at a rate of $130,000 per day.
Petronas, the Malaysian state energy company, said it awarded a competitive front-end engineering and design contracts to a Japanese engineering company and a Japanese-Italian joint venture for a new liquefaction Train at its Bintulu plant.
Origin Energy said significant progress has been made on the Australia Pacific LNG project, its joint venture with ConocoPhillips and Chinese energy company Sinopec, and the final investment decision on a second Train would be made by mid-year.