LNG

JGC Holdings Corp., the leading Japanese LNG and energy project engineer, has been awarded the contract for the front-end engineering and design of Nigeria’s first floating LNG project along with Europe’s Technip Energies.

The project is being developed by UTM Offshore Limited, an indigenous private company in Nigeria engaged primarily in crude oil sales and an established provider of marine logistic support services to the oil and gas sector.

UTM is the parent company of UTM FLNG Ltd, which previously awarded a contract to JGC for the conceptual design of the FLNG facility.

“Consequently, the consortium of JGC Corp. and Technip has now been awarded the contract for the FEED of an FLNG plant producing 1.2 million tonnes per annum of LNG and other products including liquefied petroleum gas and condensate, with the completion date for the FEED slated for December 2023,” explained JGC whose headquarters are in Kanagawa, Japan.

Topside design

JGC explained that it would be primarily responsible for the topside design covering the LNG production facilities while Technip would handle the hull and the mooring system design.

“We believe this award duly reflects the satisfaction of the client with the conceptual design performed by JGC as well as the outstanding track record and project execution capabilities of the JGC Group and Technip Energies in the field of FLNG,” declared JGC.

“Upon completion of the FEED, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase is envisaged and, if realized, this will be the first FLNG facility in Nigeria and a milestone project for the country,” said JGC.

JGC has delivered the EPC for two previously completed FLNG facilities for Petronas of Malaysia, and together with Technip and for the Coral South FLNG project in Mozambique that shipped its first cargo in November 2022.

However, Ngeria has lagged behind other African nations such as Cameroon, Mozambique and newcomers like Mauritania and Senegal in establishing FLNG facilities for its extensive natural gas resources. and associated gas in oil fields.

Onshore expansion

Nigeria operates the onshore LNG plant at Bonny Island in the Niger Delta where output dropped for a second year in 2021 to 16.42 million tonnes, down almost 22 percent from the 21MT shipped in the previous year.

NLNG is also hoping to move forward faster and develop its long-awaited Train 7 project.

The NLNG onshore plant with six liquefaction Trains is owned by four shareholders, Shell, the French and Italian majors TotalEnergies and Eni as well as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), which holds 49 percent of the venture.

The onshore Train 7 contract will also have a de-bottlenecking programme and would add around 8 MTPA of capacity to the Bonny Island facility, taking the total nameplate capacity to around 30 MTPA in the future.

JGC Holdings Corp., the leading Japanese LNG and energy engineering company, posted an annual loss mainly because of impairments relating to the Ichthys LNG export project near Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia, though is upbeat on the coming LNG boom.

JGC Holdings Corp., the leading Japanese LNG and energy engineering firm, has appointed the former executive at KBR of the US, Farhan Mujib, as the company’s new Senior Executive Vice President for JGC’s overseas engineering, procurement and construction business.

KBR Inc., the US energy and LNG engineering company, has selected Baker Hughes-GE to supply gas turbine driver technologies for the ongoing development of KBR's standardized design for a mid-scale LNG liquefaction plant.

KBR Inc., the US energy and LNG engineering company said it was awarded a preliminary engineering and design contract by Mexico Pacific Ltd (MPL) for a US-led midscale LNG liquefaction and export project at Puerto Libertad on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide pre-front-end engineering and design work and cost estimates for the project.

This work will be performed by KBR utilizing the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade liquefaction technology, leveraging the midscale LNG joint development work previously announced by KBR.

With offices in Houston, Texas, MPL is a venture comprising DKRW Energy Sonora Holdings and Aecom Capital, a New York-based equity fund that invests in energy and infrastructure projects.

MPL has additional Mexican regulatory permits for 12 million tonnes per annum of output and proposes the initial construction of up to four mid-scale modular processing Trains, each producing 1 MTPA.

“We are excited to be a part of this Mexico Pacific Limited LNG project and to deliver innovative LNG technology solutions for our customers,” said Farhan Mujib, KBR President for Hydrocarbons Delivery Solutions.

“We believe midscale LNG projects have an important part to play in the global LNG market,” added Mujib.

The Puerto Libertad project site is contained within 1,100 coastal acres and the harbour depths are in excess of 20 metres and capable of accommodating the largest LNG carriers.

“We look forward to working with an LNG industry leader in KBR, and continuing our efforts to provide a world class project with best in class delivered pricing for our Asian buyers,” said Josh Loftus, President of MPL.

The KBR contract continues a broader competitive process with FEED expected to start in mid-2019.

The US Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy approved MPL’s application in September 2018 to export 1.7 billion cubic feet per day via existing cross-border natural gas pipelines to be liquefied at the Puerto Libertad plant.

The pipelines include the Kinder Morgan Sierrita Gas Pipeline, which extends to the US-Mexico border near Sasabe in Arizona.

From MPL’s facility, which would be sited on the shore of the Gulf of California adjacent to Puerto Libertad, the LNG could be delivered to other markets in Mexico or to nations with a Free Trade Agreement with the US.

MPL President Loftus formerly worked with global accountants and consultants Ernst & Young where he was a business development manager in the energy sector in Houston.

He previously held several senior roles with the General Electric Company, including at GE Oil & Gas.

Loftus received a BA in economics and business administration from the University of Missouri and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

US energy engineering company KBR said it planned to pursue a new phase of liquefied natural gas joint development with the processing technology of US major ConocoPhillips and concentrating on lower-cost mid-scale projects.