LNG

Tokyo Gas Co., one of the leading Japanese LNG importers and the largest provider of city-gas services in the Tokyo metropolitan area, has agreed to pay $2.7 billion to acquire US upstream natural gas company Rockcliff Energy and its assets in the Haynesville Shale.

Air Products, the leading liquefied natural equipment-maker and industrial gases company, has signed an agreement to supply LNG technology and equipment for the Port Arthur project in Texas being developed by Sempra Infrastructure.

Baker Hughes, the US liquefied natural gas equipment-maker and energy services company, has been awarded an order by Bechtel Energy to supply two main refrigerant compressors for the Port Arthur LNG export project in Texas.

The Port Arthur venture is being developed in the first phase by the Sempra Infrastructure unit of California-based Sempra in Jefferson County, Texas, after a positive final investment decision made on March 20.

Baker Hughes said it would supply four Frame 7 turbines paired with eight centrifugal compressors across two LNG Trains under the deal with engineering, procurement and construction contract-holder Bechtel.

The two large-capacity Trains at the Texas project will each produce over 6 million tonnes per annum for a nameplate capacity of around 13 MTPA in the first phase.

Baker Hughes added that it would also supply two electric motor-driven compressors for the plant’s boosting services.

Critical equipment

“We are delighted to be working with Bechtel and Sempra Infrastructure to supply critical equipment for this innovative LNG project,” said Baker Hughes Chairman and Chief Executive Lorenzo Simonelli.

“Baker Hughes has been committed to LNG for over 30 years, and the announcement builds on our track record of delivering high-availability and reliable LNG technology, with low total cost of operations, further enabling increased exports of LNG from the US Gulf Coast to meet global energy needs,” Simonelli added.

Baker Hughes noted that the Frame 7 turbine was well-proven for its energy efficiency, availability, reliability and maintainability.

“Packaging of the turbine-compressor Train, a unique Baker Hughes offering, as well as manufacturing of the compressors and testing of the Trains, will take place at Baker Hughes’ facilities in Italy,” explained the company.

Commercial start

“The expected commercial operation dates for Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 Train 1 and Train 2 are 2027 and 2028 respectively,” added Baker Hughes.

Total capital expenditure for the Port Arthur Phase 1 project is estimated at $13 billion.

Sempra explained that it had secured a joint venture with ConocoPhillips whereby an affiliate of the US major has acquired a 30 percent non-controlling interest in the project and is purchasing 5 MTPA of LNG offtake under a 20-year sale and purchase agreement.

Additionally, ConocoPhillips will be managing the Port Arthur project's overall natural gas supply requirements.

ConocoPhillips will also have certain rights to participate in future expansion projects in both equity and offtake.

Sempra has also reserved an indirect stake in Port Arthur LNG for US asset management firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts , which is already a stakeholder in Sempra Infrastructure.

US utility Sempra, whose assets include LNG projects on the US Gulf Coast and Mexico and natural gas and power businesses in California, reported full-year earnings of $2.09 billion compared with $1.25Bln in 2021 and was preparing an imminent final investment decision on the Port Arthur LNG project in Texas.

The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG monthly export data showing the UK, France, Turkey, Japan and the Netherlands receiving the most cargoes and the most expensive shipments departing from a Louisiana plant.

Sempra Infrastructure, a subsidiary of California-based Sempra, has signed another long-term sale and purchase agreement, its third in recent weeks, and this time with French utility Engie.

German LNG Terminal GmbH, the development company of the onshore import facility at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River south of the port of Hamburg and adjacent to the Kiel Canal, has signed up three leading energy companies as long-term foundation customers for regasification capacity.

French major TotalEnergies and North American US LNG plant owner and developer Sempra are expanding their strategic alliance with the signing of an accord covering the Vista Pacífico LNG export project in Mexico.

The Vista Pacífico LNG project is planned to be a mid-scale facility on Mexico’s West Coast with cargoes pointing at the high-demand markets such as Asia and South America.

California-based Sempra, the main owner and operator of the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana, has already signed a non-binding agreement with Mexico’s state-owned utility company, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, for the potential joint development of this project

Sempra said the accord signed with TotalEnergies was in the form of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the French oil and gas company to offtake one-third of future LNG production at Vista Pacífico LNG and to become a shareholder in the project with a minimum stake of 16.6 percent.

Sempra’s development of Vista Pacífico LNG is in addition to its Energía Costa Azul LNG export project, which is transforming an existing import terminal into an export plant.

TotalEnergies and Sempra are already partners in the Cameron LNG plant in Hackberry, Louisiana and in the Cosa Azul project.

Global player

TotalEnergies is already one of the world’s leading LNG export developers and traders with interests in liquefaction plants in Angola, Australia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Russia and Qatar. It is also developing the Mozambique LNG project.

Mexico’s other LNG export plans also include the US Mexico-Pacific Ltd (MPL) LNG project.

The MPL company is based in Houston and has joined with LNG engineering firm Bechtel Inc. on developing a liquefaction and export facility on the Pacific Coast using US natural gas as the feed gas and processing technology from ConocoPhillips.

The MPL plant is proposed for near Puerto Libertad in the northwest state of Sonora and would have just over 14 million tonnes per annum of output.

Sempra’s LNG interests have been transferred into the Sempra Infrastructure entity under a corporate restructuring and one of its shareholders is the US investment fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, now known as just KKR.

A second MoU with Sempra and TotalEnergies provides for the co-development of several renewable energy projects in North America.

This could see Sempra’s acquisition of 30 percent of the TotalEnergies equity interest in a wind project off the coast of California that is preparing for an upcoming auction.

“We are pleased to further strengthen our partnership with Sempra in North America in LNG and to extend it to renewables,” said Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive of TotalEnergie.

“Over the past years, TotalEnergies has become the leading exporter of US LNG and has built up a pipeline of 4 gigawatts of solar projects and 3 GW of offshore wind projects currently under development in the US,” added Pouyanné.

January 19 (LNGJ) - Woodside Energy Trading Singapore, a unit of the Western Australian LNG plant operator, has signed a heads of agreement with Commonwealth LNG of the US to negotiate a sale and purchase agreement for the supply of cargoes from the proposed development in Cameron Parish in Louisiana.

   The accord contemplates the purchase by Woodside of 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG over a period of 20 years, scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2026. Woodside would also have an option to purchase an additional 500,000 tonnes per annum. “This HOA with Commonwealth secures access to competitive LNG in the Atlantic Basin and provides Woodside with the ability to build market scale through acquiring low cost supply,” said Woodside Chief Executive Meg O’Neill.

Sempra Infrastructure, the US company controlling Sempra LNG and its Cameron export plant at Hackberry in Louisiana and related assets in Mexico, has sold a 10 percent stake to the Abu Dhabi wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates.