LNG

Chart Industries, the US equipment-maker for liquefied natural gas and other clean energy and industrial gases markets, said its technology enabled the delivery of first LNG to the New Fortress Energy production project offshore Altamira in the Gulf of Mexico.

New Fortress Energy, the New York-based developer of liquefied natural gas import and export projects, has confirmed it placed US-government power plants in Puerto Rico into service and confirmed the operational date for the floating LNG production facility offshore the Mexican port of Altamira in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The third and final rig of FLNG 1, ‘Pioneer II’, sailed away (Sept. 26) from the Kiewit shipyard in Ingleside, Texas,” said New Fortress.

“This rig will soon join the other two FLNG 1 rigs in Altamira for final installation and commissioning, with target commercial operation date (COD) in late October or early November,” the company stated.

NFE also announced that it had placed into service its second US government-sponsored power plant in Puerto Rico.

“This facility in San Juan has a capacity of 200+ megawatts of power generation and operates under a two-year contract, similar to the 150 MW facility in Palo Seco that entered service in June under the same program,” NFE explained.

Contracts

Both power installations operate under multi-year contracts with the US government, which pays for fuel, logistics and all power infrastructure.

The company said that it was “extremely pleased” to see the successful construction and installation of these two power plants in record time by the independently managed NFE subsidiary, Genera PR LLC.

“We believe these plants provide significant reliable and efficient power to the Puerto Rico power market, helping to ensure better grid reliability,” said Wes Edens, Chairman and Chief Executive of NFE.

“NFE is at an inflection point as our core infrastructure projects enter service. The combination of the San Juan plant and the Palo Seco plant contribute significantly to downstream volumes and terminal earnings in Q4 2023,” Edens explained.

“Our projects are entering service after years of build-out, and we now look forward to cash generation, deleveraging and organic growth opportunities,” the CEO stated.

NFE is also on course to start LNG production and export operations in the weeks ahead, the first ever from Mexico, of the Altamira facility with capacity of 1.4 million tonnes per annum.

NFE’s “Fast LNG” pairs modular, midsize liquefaction technology with jack-up rigs to enable lower-cost and faster deployment schedules.

LNG hub

The US company and Mexico's state-owned power utility, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), have set up the LNG hub in Altamira in the GoM to convert Mexican natural gas into LNG for export.

Each of NFE’s three parts of the first “Fast LNG” project were completed at the Kiewit yard in Ingleside.

The company said that the first “FLNG 1” liquefaction operating facility is being deployed in Mexican waters at a cost of just $1.3 billion, far below the cost of other proposed projects.

The US firm received an export permit in June 2023 for the Altamira ‘Fast LNG’ facility from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy.

Under the permit, NFE is authorised to export up to 7.8MT of LNG through April 2028, providing ample capacity to support the operations of the planned 1.4 MTPA facility through the permitted period. 

New Fortress Energy (NFE), the US LNG-for-power project developer has reached an agreement with shipping company Golar LNG for the sale of NFE’s ownership stake in a floating LNG production hull deployed off Cameroon in West Africa.

New Fortress Energy, the developer of LNG production, regasification and electricity projects and with a small shipping fleet, said its Genera subsidiary was selected by Puerto Rico to manage the US Caribbean territory’s power generation system.

New Fortress Energy, the US LNG production and import projects developer, said that it finalized agreements with Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), including plans for an offshore production hub near the Gulf of Mexico import terminal at Altamira.

NFE said that its Mexican accords were fully supported by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and by Manuel Bartlett, the Chief Executive of the CFE.

The New York-based company noted that the final versions of the agreements would be signed at a ceremony on November 3 in Mexico City.

The NFE-Mexican accords cover the expansion and extensions of NFE’s supply of natural gas to multiple CFE power generation facilities in the northwest Mexican state of Baja California Sur.

IT additionally includes the selling of NFE’s 135-megawats La Paz power plant to CFE as well as the new FLNG hub off the coast of Altamira in the state of Tamaulipas.

For the LNG production hub, NFE said that the Mexican side through the CFE would be supplying the requisite feed-gas to multiple NFE FLNG units using CFE’s existing and under-utilized pipeline capacity.

Strategic alliance

“We are pleased to complete these agreements and expand our strategic alliance with CFE, which we expect to result in the delivery of our first FLNG unit by mid-2023 and enable the construction of a new LNG hub off the coast of Altamira,” explained Wes Edens, Chairman and CEO of NFE.

“I look forward to seeing President López Obrador next week, appreciate his continued support, and value the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to producing cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy for Mexico and the world,” declared Edens.

NFE commenced commercial operations in July 2021 at an LNG regasification terminal in the port of Pichilingue in Baja California Sur.

The US company noted that the terminal, which features NFE’s proprietary “ISOFlex system”, is positioned to supply natural gas to CFE’s generation facilities in the otherwise resource-stranded region.

For the Altamira operations in the Gulf of Mexico, NFE and the CFE are fully collaborating on the creation of the new FLNG hub.

Pursuant to the now finalized agreements, NFE will deploy multiple FLNG units of 1.4 million cubic metres capacity each that utilize CFE’s existing firm pipeline transportation capacity on Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Pipeline to deliver feed-gas volumes to NFE.

The Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Pipeline is operated by Canadian company TC Energy.

NFE’s first FLNG unit, which is under construction at the Kiewit Offshore Services shipyard near Corpus Christi in Texas, is currently expected to achieve mechanical completion in March 2023.

“As part of the agreements, CFE would share in the production and marketing of a portion of the LNG volumes from the new Altamira offshore FLNG hub,” said NFE.