LNG

Dec 12 (LNGJ) - Three LNG cargoes are heading for the UK LNG port of Milford Haven this week from Qatar and the US. The Q-Max carrier “Al Samriya” with 258,100 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to berth on December 16 at Milford Haven’s South Hook terminal after arriving from Ras Laffan.

   The 174,100 cubic metres capacity ship “Hellas Diana” is due to discharge a cargo at South Hook on December 18 from the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana, according to shipping data. Another shipment is due on the same day at the Dragon import terminal on board the 174,000 cubic metres capacity “BW Magnolia”. The cargo was lifted on November 28 from the Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana.

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.

US energy executive Whitney “Whit” Fairbanks, who has previously managed the Peru LNG export plant for Hunt Oil, has been named President of Cameron LNG, the export plant at Hackberry in Louisiana developed by US utility Sempra Energy.

The US Department of Energy has just published its latest liquefied natural gas monthly export data showing rising prices for the six plants and with China and Brazil being the top destinations, while the number of receiving nations increased to 40 as the Central American state of Nicaragua joined the list.

Sempra Energy, the owner of the US Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana, the Port Arthur venture in Texas and the Costa Azul liquefaction project in Mexico, has signed an preliminary accord to supply Poland with 2 million tonnes per annum of cargoes.

Sempra’s LNG unit has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) for the cargoes from its portfolio projects in North America.

“We look forward to continuing to work with PGNiG to help meet their energy objectives from our strategically positioned LNG facilities and development projects on the Gulf and Pacific Coasts of North America,” said Justin Bird, Chief Executive of Sempra LNG.

Paweł Majewski, CEO of PGNiG, said his company valued its relationship with Sempra LNG and was keen to continue developing these ties.

“The MOU allows for shifting the volumes originally contracted at Port Arthur LNG to other facilities from Sempra's projects portfolio,” explained Majewski.

Sempra, based in San Diego, California, is also developing additional LNG facilities and carbon sequestration infrastructure along the value chain on the Gulf and Pacific Coasts.

Sempra explained that the Polish accord was non-binding and was completed in connection with the termination of a previous sale and purchase agreement (SPA) signed between the parties in 2018 that provided for 2 MPTA of LNG shipments to be delivered from the Port Arthur plant.

Sempra LNG owns a 50.2 percent interest in Cameron LNG, a three-Train export facility operating in Hackberry in Louisiana.

Sempra is currently considering the scale of a proposed expansion of the plant through one additional liquefaction Train with an offtake capacity of over 6 MTPA.

Sempra LNG along with its Mexican subsidiary, IEnova, and French major TotalEnergies are transforming the existing import terminal at Costa Azul in the state of Baja California into an export plant.

The first phase is already under construction and first production of LNG is expected by the end of 2024.

Sempra added that a potential Costa Azul expansion project was in the early stages of development.

The United States expects daily natural gas requirements for LNG exports to increase by 36 percent during most of 2020 compared with 2019 and even higher by the end of 2020 as more liquefaction capacity comes on stream and existing plants ramp up production.