Freeport LNG boost
March 9 (LNGJ) - Freeport LNG Development said it received regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to restart Train 1, the final required re-start at Freeport’s three-Train liquefaction facility at Quintana Island in Texas. “Freeport LNG's Trains 2 & 3 returned to full commercial operation in recent weeks, reaching production levels in excess of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day,” said the company.
“As the recommissioning of Freeport's liquefaction facility continues and Trains are restarted, changes in feed-gas flows and production rates are to be anticipated, given the duration of the plant's outage. As previously stated, a conservative ramp-up profile to establish full three-Train production is anticipated to occur over the next few weeks,” Freeport stated.
US Freeport LNG plant gives update on re-start plans in 2023 amid repairs and safety overhaul after fire
Freeport LNG has provided an update on its re-start plants stretching into the first quarter of 2023 because of repairs and production and operational changes.
US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeks further Freeport LNG moves for November re-start
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it was awaiting further information from the Freeport LNG plant in Texas for the process to begin for a partial re-start during November and a full ramp-up in production by March 2023.
The FERC said in a statement that it required further information to allow the facility to come back on stream in November as planned.
Freeport was shut down on June 8 due to a pipeline explosion and the company has said that it expected the plant to return to at least partial service by mid-November and for supplies of 2.1 billion cubic feet per day to be received by pipeline.
The Quintana Island facility must also follow more safety orders issued by the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).
The PHMSA and the FERC have been discussing with Freeport LNG management “ongoing damage assessments, repair work plans and plans for restart” since the June 8 events.
Time for review
“FERC reiterates the need for Freeport to provide the status and schedule of implementing the findings, recommendations, and lessons learned resulting from the root cause investigation and assessments as soon as possible to allow sufficient review time,” the regulator has said.
Freeport LNG said it aimed to restore more than 85 percent of pre-fire processing capacity in November and to ramp-up the facility to 100 percent of capacity by March 2023.
“We continue to progress our work towards achieving the November restart of our liquefaction facility,” said Freeport LNG in a statement.
“That work includes completing the final repair and restoration efforts, completing required work plans and obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals required before the facility's restart,” added Freeport LNG.
The June 8 incident occurred in pipe racks that support the transfer of LNG from the facility's LNG storage tank area to the terminal's dock facilities located on the north side of the dock basin.
None of the liquefaction Trains, LNG storage tanks, dock facilities nor the LNG process areas were impacted and there were no injuries reported.
Expansion plan
Freeport LNG was founded by billionaire Michael Smith who is Chairman and Chief Executive. When the explosion occurred, Smith and his team were planning for an expansion from 15 million tonnes per annum of output from three Trains to 20 MTPA with the construction of a fourth Train.
The plant is the joint second-largest liquefaction facility in the US, from seven existing facilities, along with Cameron LNG and Corpus Christi LNG, and is surpassed in output only by the six-Train plant at Sabine Pass in Louisiana, owned by Cheniere Energy.
Freeport LNG's main customers include Japan’s largest importer JERA Co. Inc., the Japanese utilities Kansai Electric and Osaka Gas as well as South Korean company SK E&S and buyers in Europe.
During the first quarter of 2022 before the accident, the Freeport plant exported 55 cargoes mainly to import terminals in Europe and North Asia.
US LNG exports to rise by year-end even as Freeport restart is partially offset by Cove Point shutdown
The US Government expects higher-than-average Henry Hub natural gas prices as demand remained high and inventories low while shipments from the nation’s LNG export plants would increase by 17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared with the previous three months as Freeport LNG resumes operations in November and Cove Point LNG has a scheduled closure in October.
