LNG

Tellurian Inc., developer of the Driftwood LNG export plant with volumes taken by leading commodities firms Gunvor and Vitol, will soon sign a long-term lease near Lake Charles in Louisiana so it can begin preparing the site for full construction.

Tellurian executive Chairman Charif Souki explained the latest plans in a message to investors.

The Houston, Texas-based company is moving ahead after signing firm deals in late May and early June 2021 with commodity trading firms Gunvor and Vitol for a combined 6 million tonnes per annum of cargoes from the Driftwood plant.

Each of the firm agreements is for a period of 10 years with the supply indexed to a combination of the Japan-Korea Marker for Asian spot cargoes and the European benchmark Dutch Title Transfer facility (TTF) price.

The engineering, procurement and construction contract has already been agreed with Bechtel Inc., the leading global builder of LNG export facilities.

The Driftwood plant with production capacity of around 27 MTPA will be built on the west bank of the Calcasieu River, just south of Lake Charles.

Tellurian has also filed a formal application with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a new 37-mile pipeline in Louisiana that will originate near Ragley in Beauregard Parish and end near Carlyss in Calcasieu Parish, near where the Driftwood facility will be located.

Tellurian had prevously planned to build four pipelines connecting supplies in the US Gulf Coast region, before deferring three of them because of commercial challenges.

“Look for that lease to be signed, effected and announced so that we can start the work that we need to do this summer. The activities will be taking place this summer,” stated Souki.

The company has noted that to get the Driftwood LNG plant site ready for full construction, a state highway needs to be widened to accommodate traffic for 5,000 workers, while a pipeline currently crosses the plant site and needs to be relocated.

“The new pipeline has been designed and routed to connect the supply located 21 miles north of Lake Charles to the demand located within and south of Lake Charles, bypassing what has become a constrained, complex and expensive transportation pathway,” said Tellurian after making its FERC filing.

As part of the design, the Driftwood Pipeline is proposing to deploy Baker Hughes-supplied electric-driven compression, thereby reducing the pipeline’s carbon-dioxide emissions.

“This new and completed pipeline design provides definitive and measurable results for emissions reduction and is another step in Tellurian’s overall strategy to support and balance the world’s energy needs,” said Tellurian President and Chief Executive Octávio Simões.

“Our latest commercial agreements have included provisions for tracking and documentation of LNG cargo emissions. Tellurian will continue to explore ways to collaborate with the US Administration and contribute to its plan for a cleaner climate with a focus on upending energy poverty domestically and abroad,” stated Simões.

Tellurian, the developer of the Driftwood LNG export plant near Lake Charles in Louisiana, is proceeding with its plans that now may include a fourth pipeline as it posted a larger quarterly net loss and gave more details of its costings and partnership plans.

The company said its first-quarter net loss widened to $34.12 million compared with $25.18M in the same three months of 2018.

Revenues was reported as $4.95M versus $6.80M in the same three months a year ago as Tellurian ended its first quarter with around $88.3M of cash and cash equivalents and about $57.3M of debts.

“Tellurian has a strong balance sheet consisting of approximately $384M in assets,” noted the company.

Tellurian estimates that its Driftwood LNG export plant proposed for 1,000-acre in Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana will cost around $28 billion, including construction costs, transaction expenses and contingencies, though excluding interest costs.

It intends to produce 27.6 million tonnes per annum at the Driftwood plant from 2023.

The facility will include up to 20 small-scale liquefaction Trains, three LNG storage tanks and three marine berths.

“We have entered into four lump-sum, turnkey engineering, procurement and construction agreements totaling $15.2Bln with Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals Inc. for construction of the Driftwood terminal,” said the company.

Tellurian included in its quarterly highlights the signing of a heads of agreement with a subsidiary of French major Total for a $500 million equity investment in the project.

The French company also signed up for the right to purchase 1 MTPA of LNG and for a 15-year sales and purchase agreement to acquire an additional 1.5 MTPA at Japan Korea Marker (JKM) prices.

The company additionally furthered the sale of LNG and Driftwood partnership interests by completing preliminary agreements with other potential partners, including Petronet LNG of India.

“Tellurian is now permitted to construct, operate, and export LNG from the Driftwood project and has a fully articulated EPC plan in place with Bechtel,” said Chief Executive Meg Gentle.

“Our primary focus for the next quarter is finalizing the Driftwood partnership financing. Total has committed as the first partner of Driftwood and we expect to execute final agreements with them by mid-June,” added the CEO.

“We remain on schedule to produce LNG in 2023 and generate $8.00 of cash flow per share after ramp up,” stated Gentle.

Tellurian’s proposed pipelines are expected to consist of three projects, the Driftwood pipeline, the Haynesville Global Access Pipeline and the Permian Global Access Pipeline.

“We are also considering the potential development of a fourth pipeline, the Delhi Connector Pipeline, which would run approximately 180 miles from the Perryville-Delhi Hub in northeast Louisiana to Lake Charles,” explained Tellurian.

The Driftwood pipeline will be a 96-mile large diameter pipeline that will interconnect with 14 existing interstate pipelines throughout southwest Louisiana to secure adequate natural gas feedstock.

Tellurian estimates that the construction costs for the Driftwood pipeline will be $2.3Bln before other expenses.

The Haynesville Global Access Pipeline is expected to run for 200 miles from northern to southwest Louisiana.

The Permian Global Access Pipeline is expected to be 625 miles long and to run from West Texas to southwest Louisiana.

Each of these pipelines is expected to have a diameter of 42 inches and be capable of delivering approximately 2 Bcf/d of natural gas.

“We currently estimate that construction costs will be approximately $1.4Bln for the Haynesville Global Access Pipeline and $3.7Bln for the Permian Global Access Pipeline,” added Tellurian.