LNG

New Fortress Energy, the US integrated LNG and power company that owns, operates or provides natural gas to 30 facilities in five countries, has signed an engineering contract to build a gas-fired power plant adjacent to its Barcarena LNG import terminal in Pará, the northeast Brazilian state.

New Fortress Energy, the New York-based developer of liquefied natural gas import and export projects, could begin production as early as October 2023 from a floating FLNG plant offshore the Mexican port of Altamira in the Gulf of Mexico.

NFE is on course to start LNG production and export operations in the weeks ahead, the first ever from Mexico, at a facility with capacity of 1.4 million tonnes per annum.

NFE’s “Fast LNG” pairs modular, midsize liquefaction technology with jack-up rigs to enable lower-cost and faster deployment schedules.

The US company and Mexico's state-owned power utility, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), have set up the LNG hub in Altamira in the GoM to convert Mexican natural gas into LNG for export.

Installations

The US company expects to complete and install the two remaining parts of the FLNG project this month and to immediately introduce gas and with a first cargo sold in October, according to a company presentation.

Each of NFE’s three parts of the first “Fast LNG” project have been completed at the Kiewit Offshore Services yard in Ingleside in Texas.

The company said that the first “FLNG 1” liquefaction operating facility is being deployed in Mexican waters at a cost of just $1.3 billion, far below the cost of other proposed projects.

NFE has yet to formally confirm when exactly the Altamira FLNG production plant will come on stream.

The US firm received an export permit in June 2023 for the Altamira ‘Fast LNG’ facility from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy.

Under the permit, NFE is authorised to export up to 7.8 million tonnes of LNG through April 2028, providing ample capacity to support the operations of the planned 1.4 MTPA facility through the permitted period. 

Final piece of puzzle

“This permit is the final piece to the puzzle for launching our first ‘Fast LNG’ in Altamira,” Wes Edens, NFE Chairman and Chief Executive has said.

NFE is also completing two other LNG projects in the months ahead relating to LNG imports in the South American nation of Brazil.

The Barcarena LNG import terminal in the state of Pará is due for completion in December 2023 at a cost of $700M and in January 2024 a second Brazilian import terminal will open in Santa Catarina state in the south of Brazil.

Each of the Brazilian terminals will have import capacity of 3 MTPA to support local power projects.

NFE has said that the “Fast LNG” project at Altamira as well as two Brazilian import terminals and a power venture in Puerto Rico are part of a revenue spend of  $3.2Bln on infrastructure that will soon be “revenue producing” operations for the company.

New Fortress Energy Inc. the US developer of floating LNG production and import terminal and power projects, has signed agreements to provide gas-fired power and natural gas to the US Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico.

NFE said its Puerto Rican subsidiaries, NFE Power PR and NFEnergia, had entered into agreements with the US-based industrial and energy company, Weston Solutions, for the installation and operation of 150 megawatts of additional power generation at the Palo Seco Power Plant in Puerto Rico as well as the supply of natural gas.

“Weston has won a task order to supply the temporary power generation to support the overall mission of the island’s grid stabilization at the Palo Seco Power Plant under its US Army Corps of Engineers Omaha Rapid Disaster Infrastructure contract,” explained NFE.

“The 150 MW of dual-fuel generators are expected to enable maintenance and repair work of Puerto Rico’s power system and grid,” added the New York-based company.

Wes Edens, the Chairman and Chief Executive NFE, said he was pleased to partner with Weston and support this “critical mission” to improve grid stability in Puerto Rico.

Federal help

“The Federal Government is providing much-needed resources to Puerto Rico’s recovery and this project will help enable the transition to a cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy system,” stated Edens.

NFE on March 7 had reported increased annual revenues and net profits as its array of projects advanced.

The total annual revenues of NFE jumped almost 80 percent to $2.36 billion, up from $1.32Bln in 2021.

NFE’s annual net profits amounted to $185M compared with $93M in 2021.

The company also completed the Barcarena LNG import terminal in Brazil and expects to deliver first gas to the industrial customer, Norsk Hydro, later in 2023.

NFE said construction of its Fast LNG production units was progressing rapidly with the first FLNG unit expected to achieve mechanical completion in the Spring of 2023 and commence operations by mid-2023, explained NFE.

Ship venture

NFE also closed a $2Bln transaction to form a joint venture called Energos Infrastructure with US equity fund Apollo Asset Management in which NFE holds long-term charters for 10 LNG vessels.

Then in response to the European energy crisis, the Eems Energy Terminal in The Netherlands commenced operations in September 2022 utilizing NFE's “Energos Igloo” FSRU.

The company also finalized its partnership terms with state-backed energy company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to jointly develop the Lakach deepwater natural gas field in the Gulf of Mexico and to deploy a “Fast LNG” unit to that location.

New Fortress Energy Inc., the US company with LNG-to-power projects in South America, the Caribbean and Sri Lanka in Asia, has executed a 15-year natural gas supply agreement in Brazil.

New Fortress signed the deal with a subsidiary of Norsk Hydro ASA for the supply of natural gas to the Alunorte Alumina Refinery in the northern Brazilian state of Pará.

New York-based New Fortress said it was advancing two Brazilian projects, one in Barcarena for Norsk Hydro and a second in Santa Catarina in southern Brazil.

The company said it was also positioned to supply LNG through the Santa Catarina terminal for power plants with more than 400 megawatts of capacity from the second quarter of 2022.

“The long-term partnership between Hydro and NFE will greatly benefit the state of Pará and Barcarena community,” said Wes Edens, Chairman and Chief Executive of New Fortress.

“Supply of natural gas from NFE’s Barcarena LNG terminal will support Hydro in shifting Alunorte to cleaner fuels and will significantly advance Brazil’s energy transition,” added Edens.

Under the GSA, New Fortress has agreed to supply Hydro with the equivalent to around 1 million gallons of LNG per day to the refinery from the company’s Barcarena LNG receiving and regasification facility.

Emissions targets

New Fortress said the conversion from oil-based fuel supply to natural gas will reduce the refinery’s annual carbon-dioxide emissions by an estimated 700,000 tonnes per annum and support Hydro's greenhouse-gas emissions reduction target.

“We are committed to invest in developing the world’s largest alumina refinery, and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions,” said John Thuestad, Executive Vice President for Hydro Bauxite and Alumina.

“The fuel switch is a milestone in our sustainability strategy and an important demonstration of our commitment to support local development in Pará state,” added Thuestad.

When completed in 2022, New Fortress said that the Barcarena terminal was expected to be the sole point of LNG imports in the state of Pará and the North region of Brazil.

“The terminal will support industrial development and reduce emissions and pollution in the environmentally sensitive Amazon region by providing a cleaner, affordable and reliable alternative to oil-based fuels,” New Fortress explained.

In its Asian activities, New Fortress recently agreed to invest in West Coast Power Ltd , the owner of the 310-megawatts Yugadanavi Power Plant based in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo while also developing an LNG facility off the coast.

As part of that transaction, New Fortress will have gas supply rights to the Kerawalapitya Power Complex, where 310 MW of power is operational now and an additional 700 MW is scheduled to be built, of which 350 MW will be operational by 2023.

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.

New Fortress Energy, the US operator and developer of liquefied natural gas projects in the Americas, has reached an agreement for LNG supply that will cover the needs of the existing gas-to-power businesses in Central America and the Caribbean through to the end of 2027, though was still seeking additional volumes for its Brazilian ventures.