LNG

Freeport LNG is continuing the restart of the Texas plant at Quintana Island on a phased basis after Hurricane Beryl damaged some plant equipment while the local Texas power company is hoping to re-connect all customers by July 19.

“We are completing initial repairs on the damage sustained to our fin-fan air-coolers in the hurricane,” said a Freeport spokesperson.

The Freeport plant is located 40 miles to the northeast of the hurricane’s landfall at Matagorda in Texas on July 8.

The company said it was restarting its first LNG Train and intended to re-start the two other liquefaction Trains shortly afterwards for output to progress to the nameplate capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum.

Reduced rates

However, output is expected to be at reduced rates at the plant that is experienced in re-starts after an explosion and fire at the facility in November 2022.  Most of 2023 was then spent carrying out repairs and having them approved after testing.

Regulatory and energy safety bodies are against quick re-starts until full safety checks have been carried out.

The Freeport plant has also had to await the lifting of port restrictions by the US Coast Coast and actions by other state bodies in the hurricane aftermath.

Power supplies across the state are expected to be 98 percent restored by July 17.

CenterPoint Energy, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is the main energy delivery company in the area responsible for electric transmission and distribution and natural gas supplies and has still to fully restore power.

CenterPoint said it had now restored power to 92 percent of impacted customers and remained on track to restore electricity to around 98 percent of impacted customers by the end of the day on Wednesday, July 17.

The company said it then expected to restore power to all customers who can receive it by Friday, July 19.

“We are grateful to our crews who have restored power to our customers at a stronger pace than we have been able to in any hurricane in our history, despite the difficult conditions,” explained Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President, Electric Business.

Work teams

“We continue to work around-the-clock to get our remaining customers back online,” she stated.

In addition to damaging CenterPoint's electric infrastructure, the company said that Hurricane Beryl may have caused damage to customer-owned equipment.

Specifically, customers in Texas were being asked to check their weatherhead, the point where power enters the home through an electric service drop, which is often a pipe located on the side of the residence or building.

“If the weatherhead is damaged, crews cannot safely restore service to the home until a licensed electrician has made the necessary repairs,” CentrePoint added.

Venture Global LNG, the developer of the Plaquemines export plant on the Mississippi River, expects in new regulatory filings to begin production around mid-2024 at the eighth US LNG export facility and the second plant owned and operated by Venture Global.

The Arlington, Virginia-based company has requested approval from the US Department of Energy’s Fossil Fuels body to receive up to three imported LNG cargoes as part of the Plaquemines commissioning process to cool down equipment ahead of the plant start-up.

Plaquemines has also asked for and received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval for natural gas supply to be delivered on its Gator Express pipeline venture.

“Plaquemines LNG submitted Volume 321 of the Implementation Plan, which contained information regarding the introduction of gas to the gas gate,” said the FERC filing.

LNG confidential

Plaquemines also requested that the response and attachments “be treated as both privileged and confidential and withheld from public disclosure” as they contain proprietary information used by Plaquemines LNG and its third-party consultants that is “customarily treated” as privileged and confidential.

Even though the role of the FERC is to inform the public about energy developments Venture Global has almost permanently requested non-disclosure by the FERC as the information “could result in commercial and competitive harm” to Plaquemines LNG and its consultants.

The Plaquemines liquefaction facility is on a 630-acre site with 1.3 miles of Mississippi River frontage.

The Gator Express venture comprises two pipelines, each with capacity of around 1.9 billion cubic feet per day to deliver natural gas from pipeline interconnections to the Plaquemines plant located about 20 miles south of New Orleans.

The liquefaction plant’s total planned capacity is 20 million tonnes per annum with the first phase to produce 10 MTPA.

Long commissioning

Venture Global's existing Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana shipped its first cargo in March 2022 and comprises 18 small-scale modular liquefaction Trains each with 0.626 million tonnes per annum of capacity and configured in nine blocks for total nameplate output of 11.26 MTPA.

In addition to the Plaquemines plant Venture Global is developing the CP2 project, so called because it will be built adjacent to the Calcasieu Pass facility, and the Delta LNG plant.

The three newer plants will each have nameplate capacity of around 20 MTPA.

Venture Global has signed up many energy companies from around the world as long-term customers for its various projects.

The company has also been the subject of complaints and arbitration proceedings brought by customers such as Shell and BP over the commissioning process at Calcasieu Pass.

The commissioning has lasted for more than two years, and thus deprived customers of contracted cargoes available once commissioning comes to an end and the commercial start-up begins.

FERC finally intervened in the long-running dispute between Venture Global LNG and its Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana and major customers over delays in activating sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) for contract cargoes.

The regulator asked Venture Global to explain why it has extensively filed “confidential” documents in relation to the Calcasieu Pass export project.

The US Government expects the nation’s liquefied natural gas exports to increase in 2024 and to surge in 2025 as projects currently under construction start to come on stream.

April 5 (LNGJ) - Enbridge Inc., the Canadian pipelines company, said its Texas Eastern Transmission subsidiary had received approvals from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to commence service of a natural gas pipeline associated with its Venice extension LNG feed-gas project in Louisiana.

   The Venice extension was designed to supply feed gas to Venture Global LNG's Plaquemines export plant currently under construction on the banks of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans. The FERC said it granted Texas Eastern Transmission’s request to commence service on the 3-mile (4.8km), 36-inch Venice extension pipeline with capacity of around 1.3 billion cubic feet per day.

US energy regulators have finally intervened in the long-running dispute between Venture Global LNG and its Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana and major customers over delays in activating sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) for contract cargoes.

Feb 5 (LNGJ) - Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal, the UK’s Isle of Grain facility on the Medway River near London, has followed up its capacity agreement with the Algerian energy company Sonatrach by signing a second deal with US company Venture Global with its Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana and three other facilities being developed. “The Grain LNG terminal is an important gateway to the broader European market, and we look forward to supplying the region through this new access point for years to come,” said Michael Sabel, Chief Executive of Venture Global.

   Grain LNG, owned by a subsidiary of National Grid Plc, said a 16-year agreement was signed with Venture Global for around 3 million tonnes per annum of capacity from 2029 as a result of Grain LNG’s competitive auction process which was launched in September 2023. “I’m delighted that we are able to announce the second result from our September auction, commencing a long-term partnership with Venture Global,” said Katie Jackson President of National Grid Ventures, the UK grid operator’s subsidiary that owns the LNG terminal.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), the leading US pipeline feed-gas company for liquefied natural gas plants and a key energy infrastructure operator and developer, reported solid earnings and revenues for the fourth quarter and full year as pipeline projects and expansions advanced.

Venture Global LNG has told the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it could not meet contracts to provide cargoes from the Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana to major customers because the facility was not yet ready to meet three criteria in the sales and purchase agreements.

Shell has joined with the other UK-based major BP to file a complaint with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) against LNG developer Venture Global claiming the Arlington, Virginia-based company was “illegally withholding information” about delays in delivering LNG from its Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana.

UK major BP filed a complaint with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission against LNG developer Venture Global claiming the Arlington, Virginia-based company was “illegally withholding information” about delays in delivering LNG from its Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana.