LNG

QatarEnergy, the leading global LNG produce, has signed a farm-in agreement with ExxonMobil Corp. to acquire a 40 percent participating interest in two exploration blocks offshore Egypt.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to customary approvals by the government of Egypt, QatarEnergy will acquire a 40 percent working interest in each of the “Cairo” and “Masry” Offshore Concession Agreements, while operator ExxonMobil will retain the remaining 60 percent working interest.

“I am pleased with our entry into the Cairo and Masry offshore exploration blocks as they expand QatarEnergy’s presence in the Arab Republic of Egypt and extend our ambitious exploration program in-country,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the President and Chief Executive QatarEnergy.

Partners

“We look forward to working with our valued long-term strategic partner ExxonMobil, as well as with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, in this promising and prospective region,” explained Al-Kaabi.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Egyptian authorities and our partners for their valuable support and cooperation,” he added.

Financial details of the latest QatarEnergy-ExxonMobil transaction were not disclosed.

The Cairo and Masry offshore exploration blocks were awarded to ExxonMobil in January 2023 and cover an area of around 11,400 square kilometres in water depths of 2,000 to 3,000 metres.

The QatarEnergy deal in Egypt was signed amid some concern about one of the main overseas LNG ventures involving QatarEnergy, the US Golden Pass export project and also involving ExxonMobil.

The Golden Pass LNG project has acknowledged ongoing discussions regarding the future role of the US Zachry group in the engineering, procurement and construction joint venture also including McDermott of the US and Chiyoda Corp, of Japan.

Golden Pass talks

“Golden Pass LNG acknowledges ongoing discussions regarding the role of Zachry within the venture,” said a statement.

“Work continues to diligently complete the project, but these discussions may impact site activity in the near term,” the statement added.

The Golden Pass liquefaction facilities are being constructed at the existing import terminal located on the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas.

The three liquefaction Trains will have a nameplate capacity of around 16 million tonnes per annum of LNG and ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy are marketing their own volumes.

The Train 1 mechanical completion is still on track for completion at the end of 2024 with first LNG in the first half of 2025.

Sempra Energy, operator of the Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana and developer the Costa Azul venture in Mexico, has again delayed the final investment decision until 2022 on its third proposed export plant, the Port Arthur LNG project in Texas.

Sempra decided to delay the FID on the Port Arthur facility after originally scheduling the decision for around May 2020 until the market downturn pushed back the timetable and the signing of new customers.

“A final investment decision on Port Arthur LNG will likely move into next year, as we work with partners and customers to further reduce the greenhouse-gas emission profile of the project and evaluate the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy,” said Sempra.

“We remain confident in our view that the market will need additional supplies of LNG in the coming years and believe Sempra LNG projects are the leading candidates to supply this need,” added the San Diego, California-based company.

The project at Port Arthur in Jefferson County was authorized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in April 2019 and involves the construction of two liquefaction Trains, each with capacity of 6.73 million tonnes per annum, the largest processing Trains among all the projects on the Gulf Coast.

Engineering and planning within the regulatory permitting process are continuing for the project.

Other Port Arthur facilities include two marine berths for LNG carriers with two LNG loading arms and two hybrid arms, condensate loading and truck facilities.

It additionally has permits for a construction and materials loading and unloading dock and three full-containment LNG storage tanks.

The Port Arthur LNG also has an expansion planned to include two additional Trains, each with its own gas treatment facilities and each capable of producing 6.73 MTPA, along with associated utilities and infrastructure.

All four Port Arthur Trains are expected to include one propane and one mixed refrigerant refrigeration GE Frame 7EA compressor turbine.

Each of the Trains will be equipped with an Acid Gas Removal Unit (AGRU) that utilizes an amine treatment process for acid gas removal.

Emissions from the AGRUs will be controlled using thermal oxidizers.

The Port Arthur project signed a fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction contract in March 2020 with US engineers Bechtel.

Sempra had also previously proposed to sell 5 MTPA of Port Arthur LNG to a unit of Saudi Aramco and take a 25 percent investment from the Saudis, while 2 MTPA has also been sold to the Polish Oil & Gas Company.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee said the  Office of General Counsel would reorganize to more expeditiously process requests for rehearing of Natural Gas Act (NGA) orders filed by affected landowners. 

The announcement covering Section 7 certificate orders in the NGA builds on Chatterjee’s September 2019 pledge to refine the FERC process to prioritize rehearing requests involving landowner issues, with a target of issuing rehearing orders within 30 days and reducing the use of tolling orders. 

At that time, Chatterjee designated attorneys in the rehearings group of the Solicitor’s Office to focus on rehearing requests involving landowner issues.

“Our objective is to reinforce the Commission’s commitment to ensure landowners are afforded a judicially appealable rehearing order as quickly as possible,” said Chatterjee.

“I am confident that this action will help substantially reduce the amount of time we take to issue rehearing orders in these critical cases,” stated the FERC Chairman.

The measure will improve landowner rights in large-scale pipeline projects, though also in the LNG feed-gas pipeline permit area where the infrastructure is less than 100 miles in length.

LNG export projects, particularly in the second wave of ventures being development along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, have many affiliate pipelines and sometimes more than one.

Under the plan, Chatterjee has directed the creation of a new Rehearings section within OGC, akin to the six existing sections in that office: Energy Markets 1 and 2, Energy Projects, General and Administrative Law, the Solicitor’s Office and the Dispute Resolution Service.

The FERC said the Rehearings section will have two separate groups, a Landowner Rehearings group and a General Rehearings group. 

The Landowner Rehearings group will give first priority to landowner rehearing requests, and would work on other rehearing items only when time permits.

This allocation of resources, Chatterjee said, would allow for more timely action on expected landowner requests for rehearing. 

“We are hopeful that these actions will help alleviate the very real landowner concerns about timing and fairness in infrastructure cases implicating landowner rights,” Chatterjee said. 

“I remain committed to doing all we can to improve our FERC processes on this front,” he added.