LNG

QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil have agreed to independently market LNG produced at their joint venture Golden Pass LNG plant in Sabine Pass in Texas with the start-up set for 2024.

“By leveraging their unique customer insights, QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil will better serve their downstream customers while meeting increased global demand,” the companies said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission formally approved the transformation of the existing Golden Pass import terminal located on the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas into an export plant back in December 2016.

The Qatar-ExxonMobil project has advanced at a slow pace because of doubts several years ago over market demand issues that have now been resolved and work is well underway to construct three liquefaction Trains with around 16 million tonnes per annum of output.

While the first Train is still scheduled to come on stream in 2024, the second Train is expected to follow six-to-eight months later and Train 3 six-to-eight months after that.

ExxonMobil said it would market 30 percent of Golden Pass LNG volumes.

Mutual growth

“We are continuing to build on our decades-long relationship with QatarEnergy and collaborating on mutual growth opportunities that help deliver the lower-emissions energy our world needs,” said Peter Clarke, head of ExxonMobil’s LNG business.

“Independently marketing these Golden Pass volumes will generate increased value and flexibility across ExxonMobil’s growing global LNG portfolio,” Clarke explained.

ExxonMobil affiliate ExxonMobil LNG Asia Pacific (EMLAP) has been provided the exclusive rights to market 30 percent of Golden Pass LNG volumes.

QatarEnergy Trading will market the remaining 70 percent.

“Previously, ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy used the Ocean LNG joint venture to market Golden Pass volumes to customers,” noted ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy continued their investments in Golden Pass throughout the pandemic-related down cycle, keeping the expansion project on schedule.

“The project will add new LNG capacity, create thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars of economic growth for the region,” said ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil explained that it was planning for lower-emissions LNG to play an increasingly important role in its advantaged portfolio.

“The company plans to nearly double its LNG supply by 2030 as low-cost, capital-efficient projects like the Golden Pass expansion come online,” said the US major.

ExxonMobil Corp. has signed up with US plants developer Venture Global for two long-term Sales and Purchase Agreements amounting to volumes of 2 million tonnes per annum from Louisiana LNG export plants.

Venture Global, based in Arlington, Virginia said ExxonMobil LNG Asia Pacific (EMLAP), which has an LNG trading licence in Singapore, will receive 1 MTPA from the Plaquemines export plant being developed on the banks of the Mississippi River.

A further 1 MTPA will be lifted for the ExxonMobil unit from the CP2 LNG project being designed and constructed alongside the existing Calcasieu Pass plant in Cameron Parish where several mid-scale Trains are already operating.

“This is the second supply agreement for CP2, which is expected to commence construction in 2023,” said Venture Global.

This refers to a previous deal with New Fortress Energy, headquartered in New York, for 1 MTPA of LNG from the future CP2 plant. NFE is also taking 1 MTPA of LNG from Venture Global’s Plaquemines facility and both deals are for free-on-board cargoes for a period of 20 years.

Venture Global said that both of its new export facilities will replicate the same design seen in operation at Calcasieu Pass, where speed of execution resulted in the production of first LNG only 29 months after the final investment decision.

Fourth plant

The company is also developing a fourth plant on the Mississippi River called Delta LNG and would take its overall output to 60 MTPA.

“Venture Global is deeply honored that ExxonMobil has chosen to collaborate with our company across both of our next projects, Plaquemines and CP2,” said Miichael Sabel, Chief Executive of Venture Global LNG.

“As a global LNG leader, ExxonMobil’s support for Venture Global’s innovation and engineering execution is a defining moment for our combined teams and the wider LNG market,” Sabel declared.

ExxonMobil is developing its own LNG export plant along the Gulf Coast at Texas in partnership with QatarEnergy on the Sabine-Neches Waterway.

However, the Qatar-ExxonMobil project has advanced at a slow pace because of doubts several years ago over market demand issues that have now been resolved and work has gathered pace to construct three liquefaction Trains with around 16 million tonnes per annum of output.

ExxonMobil, based in Irving, Texas, is also a main partner of QatarEnergy in many of its existing Trains at the huge Ras Laffan complex in Qatar in the Arabian Gulf.

Commenting on the SPAs with Venture Global senior Vice President of LNG for the ExxonMobil Upstream Co., Peter Clarke, said LNG has an important role to play in helping lower emissions in the industrial sector.

“We look forward to working with Venture Global as we continue to grow ExxonMobil’s LNG portfolio and progress our plans to reliably deliver natural gas from the US Gulf Coast to global markets,” added Clarke.