LNG

Chart Industries, the US LNG equipment-maker and industrial gases and clean energy company, reported a record backlog for an eighth consecutive quarter, surpassing $2 billion for the first time in its history.

EnBW, the German utility headquartered in Stuttgart in the southwest German industrial state of Baden-Württemberg, has expanded its agreement to purchase LNG cargoes from US Gulf Coast producer Venture Global.

Venture Global LNG, owner of the newest US export plant at Calcasieu Pass in Louisiana and with three other projects in development, has signed up Malaysian energy company Petronas for a 20-year supply deal.

Baker Hughes, the liquefied natural gas equipment-maker and energy services company, has told investors it was well positioned to capitalize on multi-year growth in LNG and new energy projects.

The company, which has main offices in Houston and London and is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Lorenzo Simonelli said it had an “exciting portfolio” of emerging energy transition technologies and solutions.

In its most recent earnings, Baker Hughes recorded strong orders from its Turbomachinery and Process Solutions (TPS) division and said the LNG order cycle continued to unfold.

The company believes that the industry has entered another constructive LNG cycle, which is being expedited by the current geopolitical situation, particularly for US LNG projects and it forecast that global liquefaction capacity could be expected to almost double by 2040.

“We have compelling growth profile driven by range of energy transition initiatives,” said Baker Hughes in a presentation to investors.

“Multiple areas could drive extended growth cycles over the next 5-10 years and beyond,” stated Baker Hughes.

Contracts

Baker Hughes was most recently awarded the contract for the LNG driver system for the first phase of US company Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG project, located south of New Orleans on the Mississippi River in Louisiana.

The company said it now had orders booked for 150 million tonnes per annum of LNG capacity.

Baker Hughes has four divisions and in addition to LNG equipment through the Turbomachinery and Process unit it also offers oil field services, oil field equipment and digital energy solutions.

New LNG wave

“Gas fundamentals, particularly in Europe and Asia have tightened significantly. The current backdrop supports a new wave of LNG projects being sanctioned to fill the liquefaction capacity supply-demand gap,” it said,.

“there has also been a significant increase in long-term contracting activity and this has helped projects secure funding and progress to final investment decisions,” it noted.

In oil services, the company stated that sustained underinvestment had started to impact supply in the oil market.

“Capital discipline and the escalating focus on shareholder returns has restrained spending and ESG pressures have driven the strategies of major international oil companies away from fossil fuels,” said Baker Hughes.

It cited in particular the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

“OPEC countries, struggling to meet quotas, have seen spare capacity shrinking and global oil inventories trending significantly below average,” said Baker Hughes.

The company stated that the demand recovery in oil and LNG is set to exceed pre-Covid-19 levels despite increasing pressure to reduce hydrocarbon consumption.

Baker Hughes said the spending surge was fuelled by strong economic recovery in developed economies and long-term structural growth in emerging economies.

Venture Global has applied to regulators to increase activities at the Plaquemines liquefied natural gas export project on the west bank of the Mississippi, about 30 miles south of New Orleans.

Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export project has filed its monthly construction report to regulators showing substantial progress as the facility aims to be the next large US LNG export plant to start commercial operations by around the fourth quarter of 2022.

The US Calcasieu Pass liquefied natural gas export plant has begun pre-commissioning activities and moved closer to being the nation’s seventh large-scale LNG exporter by the fourth quarter of 2021.

Venture Global, the US LNG company developing three export plants in Louisiana, said it expected to install the seventh and eighth liquefaction Trains by April at the most-advanced Calcasieu Pass facility and praised the modular method of construction.

Venture Global, the US developer of three LNG export plants in Louisiana, said that US engineering firm KBR was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the first phase of the Plaquemines project on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Chart Industries, the US LNG equipment-maker, has delivered part of its order for the liquefaction process system to install at the Calcasieu Pass LNG export project at Cameron Parish in Louisiana being developed by Venture Global.