LNG

New Fortress Energy, the US LNG production and import projects developer, said that it finalized agreements with Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), including plans for an offshore production hub near the Gulf of Mexico import terminal at Altamira.

NFE said that its Mexican accords were fully supported by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and by Manuel Bartlett, the Chief Executive of the CFE.

The New York-based company noted that the final versions of the agreements would be signed at a ceremony on November 3 in Mexico City.

The NFE-Mexican accords cover the expansion and extensions of NFE’s supply of natural gas to multiple CFE power generation facilities in the northwest Mexican state of Baja California Sur.

IT additionally includes the selling of NFE’s 135-megawats La Paz power plant to CFE as well as the new FLNG hub off the coast of Altamira in the state of Tamaulipas.

For the LNG production hub, NFE said that the Mexican side through the CFE would be supplying the requisite feed-gas to multiple NFE FLNG units using CFE’s existing and under-utilized pipeline capacity.

Strategic alliance

“We are pleased to complete these agreements and expand our strategic alliance with CFE, which we expect to result in the delivery of our first FLNG unit by mid-2023 and enable the construction of a new LNG hub off the coast of Altamira,” explained Wes Edens, Chairman and CEO of NFE.

“I look forward to seeing President López Obrador next week, appreciate his continued support, and value the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to producing cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy for Mexico and the world,” declared Edens.

NFE commenced commercial operations in July 2021 at an LNG regasification terminal in the port of Pichilingue in Baja California Sur.

The US company noted that the terminal, which features NFE’s proprietary “ISOFlex system”, is positioned to supply natural gas to CFE’s generation facilities in the otherwise resource-stranded region.

For the Altamira operations in the Gulf of Mexico, NFE and the CFE are fully collaborating on the creation of the new FLNG hub.

Pursuant to the now finalized agreements, NFE will deploy multiple FLNG units of 1.4 million cubic metres capacity each that utilize CFE’s existing firm pipeline transportation capacity on Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Pipeline to deliver feed-gas volumes to NFE.

The Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Pipeline is operated by Canadian company TC Energy.

NFE’s first FLNG unit, which is under construction at the Kiewit Offshore Services shipyard near Corpus Christi in Texas, is currently expected to achieve mechanical completion in March 2023.

“As part of the agreements, CFE would share in the production and marketing of a portion of the LNG volumes from the new Altamira offshore FLNG hub,” said NFE.

New Fortress Energy Inc., the US company with LNG-to-power projects in South America, the Caribbean and Sri Lanka in Asia, said completion work was being carried out on a new Nicaraguan import facility while its Mexican terminal in the state of Baja California Sur was now fully operational.

US company Argent Marine said it was the company behind the specially designed ISO containers that enabled the fast-track start-up of the New Fortress Energy import facility on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

July 14 (LNGJ) - New Fortress Energy Inc. formally announced the start of operations at the LNG terminal in the port of Pichilingue in the northern Mexican state of Baja California Sur. “The delivery of more affordable and cleaner-burning natural gas is a significant milestone for Baja California Sur,” said Wes Edens, Chairman and Chief Executive of NFE. “Our facility will enable customers to significantly reduce emissions and costs by switching from oil-based fuels to natural gas,” he added.

   The Mexican terminal features NFE’s proprietary “ISOFlex” system, which allows larger LNG carrier vessels to transload LNG into ISO storage containers on offshore support vessels (OSVs) with a specialized manifold. “These ISO storage containers can be easily offloaded at container ports and onto trucks, which enables the reduction of time, permitting requirements and capital costs for the development of NFE’s terminals,” the New York-based company explained.

New Fortress Energy, the US operator, developer and supplier of liquefied natural gas in the Americas, has moved closer to starting operations at its Pichilingue LNG facility near La Paz in Mexico’s Baja California Sur state on the Pacific Coast.

New Fortress Energy Inc., the New York-based LNG and power project company, has signed an agreement with a unit of the Mexican Federal Electricity Commission for the supply of regasified LNG from a new import facility within the next three months to two generating plants in the northwest state of Baja California Sur.

Under the agreement, New Fortress will provide the equivalent of an estimated 250,000-500,000 gallons of LNG (20,000-40,000 million British thermal units) per day to CFE’s CTG La Paz and CTG Baja California Sur power plants.

“We are pleased to support CFE’s transition to cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy,” said Wes Edens, Chairman and Chief Executive of New Fortress.

“This contract will help create significant fuel savings and emissions reductions for the benefit of the people of Baja California Sur,” added Edens.

The US company will supply regasified LNG to the plants to replace fuel oil via the company’s onshore receiving terminal facilities being completed in the port of Pichilingue in Baja California Sur.

The terminal is anticipated to come on line and begin the supply of natural gas to CFE in May 2021, though the company has released few details on LNG delivery and storage.

Pichilingue Port's LNG facility, located just north of La Paz, the Baja California Sur state capital, will be the third in Mexico when it enters service.

The two other Mexican LNG terminals are on the Gulf Coast at Altamira and south of Baja California on the Pacific Coast at Manzanillo.

The Pichilingue LNG facility will introduce natural gas to Baja California Sur for power generation for the first time. The state is in the lower part of the Baja California Peninsula and also currently lacks adequate onshore gas infrastructure.

New Fortress has a similar import facility in Jamaica in the Caribbean using floating storage that began operations in 2016 and another project in Puerto Rico.

The company is also working on a venture to supply regasified LNG to a 300 megawatts gas-fired power plant at Puerto Sandino in Nicaragua. 

New Fortress Energy, the New York-based LNG developer in the Caribbean and Central America,  said it was progressing with construction of a Mexican liquefied natural gas import and regasification terminal in the port of Pichilingue on the Pacific Coast.