LNG

Texas LNG Brownsville, the US Gulf Coast export project, said it was making solid advances in signing accords for all volumes available as it remains on track for a final investment decision.

Texas LNG, the US export project being constructed in the Port of Brownsville in Texas as a subsidiary of New York-based Glenfarne Energy Transition, has signed a supply accord with the Singapore-based trading unit of global commodities firm Gunvor.

Texas LNG, the liquefied natural gas export project to be constructed by the New York-based Glenfarne Group, has selected Gulf LNG Tugs of Texas to assist LNG carriers arriving and departing from the fully permitted facility at the Port of Brownsville.

Jan 12 (LNGJ) - Texas LNG Brownsville, a subsidiary of Glenfarne Energy Transition, has signed a Heads of Agreement with US shale-gas company EQT Corp. for natural gas liquefaction services. The HOA anticipates the finalization of a definitive 15-year LNG tolling agreement for 500,000 tonnes per annum of LNG from the first Train of the Texas venture. Texas LNG has proposed annual output of 4 million tonnes per annum from the facility at the Port of Brownsville in Texas.

   “We are proud to welcome EQT as a customer and partner for Texas LNG, with our industry-leading low-emissions facility liquefying US natural gas for global markets,” said Brendan Duval, Glenfarne Chief Executive and Founder. “This is an important milestone for Texas LNG, with additional agreements to be announced in the near-term as we progress towards a final investment decision,” Duval added. Glenfarne is also the owner and developer of the 8.8 MTPA Magnolia LNG project in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Texas LNG, the liquefied natural gas export plant to be constructed by New York-based Glenfarne Group in the Port of Brownsville, has been issued with two additional mitigation measures by regulators and said it was still on track to make a final investment decision in 2023.

Glenfarne Group, the privately-held energy and infrastructure development and management firm based in New York, has signed a contract for its Texas LNG Brownsville project to be built by a joint venture comprising Technip Energies and South Korea’s Samsung Engineering.

Glenfarne, a New York-based fund specialising in energy infrastructure investment, is keeping the regulatory pot boiling on the Magnolia LNG export plant in Louisiana by filing a monthly activities report for through October 2021 after the completion deadline was extended to 2026.

The US Golden Pass LNG export project on the Gulf Coast, owned by Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil, has requested immediate authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to begin the work covered in the latest part of its implementation plan.

The US Department of Energy extended the terms of seven long-term liquefied natural gas export authorizations through 2050 to help preserve what it said was a vital energy source for its friends and allies.

The actions follow 10 LNG export term extensions previously issued in October pursuant to an export term policy statement finalized in July 2020 by the DoE.

“The success story of US LNG continues to be written, and these extended authorizations will ensure that the benefits from these exports continue for decades to come,” said US Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette.

“The United States just set a new all-time high record for LNG exports in November 2020, and the monthly rate of LNG exports has now quintupled since the beginning of the Trump Administration,” added Brouillette

The term extensions issued include for the Golden Pass project owned by Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil whereby the terminal is currently being transformed into an export plant.

Other projects under development and on the extension list to 2050 are Texas LNG, proposed for Brownsville, Texas, as well as Magnolia LNG in Louisiana.

The Magnolia plant is proposed for a 115-acre site near the Calcasieu Ship Channel. It is designed to produce 8.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG from four Trains.

Both Texas LNG and Magnolia are controlled by Glenfarne, a New York-based fund specialising in energy infrastructure investment.

Tellurian Inc.’s Driftwood venture at Lake Charles in Louisiana and the Delfin LNG project, proposed for offshore Louisiana, are on the list as well.

The Delfin FLNG project is based on the deployment of floating liquefaction facilities with other moored production and storage vessels.

The Delfin developers have already been awarded a deepwater port licence by the US Maritime Administration and the venture has been approved by the US Coast Guard.

Delfin then asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a three-year and six-month extension until 28th March, 2023 to build facilities to connect up to the FLNG units 30 miles off the coast.

Sempra Energy, the owner of the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana, also sees and extension linked to its Costa Azul project on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

Costa Azul, which recently reached a final investment decision for its mid-scale project, has DoE authorization to import and liquefy US-sourced natural gas for export from Mexico.

“Critical to our Nation’s energy independence are the prospects presented by these long-term LNG export extensions,” said Deputy Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes.

“LNG is and will continue to be a vital energy resource for our friends and allies around the world,” added Menezes.

These issuances extend each project’s long-term LNG export authorization to non-free trade agreement (non-FTA) countries through December 31, 2050.

Acting Under Secretary of Energy and Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy Steven Winberg said the move was necessary.

“It is important for DOE to do everything to assure a long-term future for US LNG exports, which will continue to meet global energy security and emissions reduction goals,” added Winberg.

Including the term extension applications just granted, long-term LNG export authorizations with export terms through 2050 are now held by 13 US LNG export projects, as well as the Costa Azul project in Mexico.

The US Department of Energy has issued a rule to exclude some licensing and environmental requirements for liquefied natural gas export projects that had previously been required in a show of support for the energy industry by the Administration of President Donald Trump.

The rule, which the Department of Energy issued in a pre-publication notice in the Federal Register, frees LNG export and import license applications from including environmental reviews that had been required under an environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act.

The DoE said it was updating its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures pertaining to authorizations issued under the Natural Gas Act.

“These changes will improve the efficiency of the DoE decision-making process by saving time and expense in the NEPA compliance process and eliminating unnecessary environmental documentation for these actions that the DoE has determined normally do not have significant effects,” said the filing to be published in the Federal Register on December 4, 2020.

The DoE said in the notice that the rule would “save time and expense in the NEPA compliance process”.

The rule is effective 30 days after December 4 Federal Register publication.

Analysts said there was a possibility that a new President could overturn the DoE ruling, but the outcome of the November Presidential election is still unclear amid evidence of poll fraud, which has shocked many people in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East and lowered their regard for American fairness.

The Trump Administration has overseen a surge in natural gas development and US energy independence as the nation has become the world’s third-largest LNG exporter after being an net importer before the shale revolution.

The DoE rule would not affect environmental reviews by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the other government office that reviews LNG projects.

President Trump has supported supplying US allies with LNG and the largest recipients of cargoes have been to countries like South Korea and Japan as well as European countries which have been taking US LNG cargoes as an available alternative to Russian pipeline natural gas.

The Energy Information Agency declared the US the third-largest LNG exporter in May 2019, overtaking Malaysia, after shipments reached a new peak of 4.7 billion cubic feet per day.

The US has six export plants on stream, Sabine Pass and Cameron LNG in Louisiana, Corpus Christi and Freeport in Texas, as well as Cove Point In Maryland and Elba Island in Georgia.

Other projects are under development and about half a dozen are likely to be constructed in the next five years, mainly on the Gulf Coast of Texas and Lousiana.