LNG

Sempra Infrastructure, a subsidiary of California-based utility Sempra, has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with US firm Bechtel Energy for Phase II of the Port Arthur LNG export project in Texas.

May 21 (LNGJ) - UK LNG deliveries are slowly gathering pace with a cargo scheduled this week at the Dragon LNG import terminal at the Port of Milford Haven as prices increase. The UK National Balancing Point market price was last at the equivalent of $9.730 per million British thermal units.

   The vessel “Hellas Athina” with 173,400 cubic metre of capacity is scheduled to discharge a shipment at the Dragon facility on May 25. The cargo was lifted on May 12 from the Freeport export plant on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

TC Energy Corp., whose activities include the building and ownership of pipelines in the US, Mexico and Canada and the LNG project called Coastal GasLink in British Columbia, has held an investor day with forecasts of a surge in feed gas for US Gulf Coast LNG and more progress on the spin-off of its liquids business.

TC Energy’s five divisions include Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines, US Natural Gas Pipeline, Mexican Natural gas Pipeline, Liquids Pipeline and Energy and Power Solutions.

François Poirier, TC Energy’s President and Chief Executive, told investors that the Coastal GasLink was completed while its US Southeast Gateway venture was on track for costs and schedule.

TC Energy’s presentation showed that the Calgary-based company was providing 30 percent of US LNG feed gas which is set to surge to 40 billion cubic feet per day of supply for liquefaction in the years ahead.

LNG wave

“We are well positioned to capture the next wave of LNG exports,” said the CEO.

At the start of October 2023 TC Energy completed the sale of 40 percent stakes for a total of C$5.3 billion (US$3.9Bln) in two US assets, Columbia Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission, transporters of 20 percent of US LNG feed-gas volumes.

The company confirmed that the Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf transactions were completed to the buyer, the New York-headquartered asset management firm Global Infrastructure Partners.

The Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf pipelines span more than 15,000 miles across the North American natural gas network and are underpinned by strong long-term natural gas supplies and a rate-regulated commercial framework.

Southeast Gateway

“The Southeast Gateway Pipeline project continues to progress with its US$4.5Bln cost estimate and schedule,” said the company.

“TC Energy has made significant progress against its 2023 priorities, including project execution, deleveraging and maximizing the value of its asset base, which continues to generate excellent operational and financial results through all points in the economic cycle,” investors were told.

They were also told that the Liquids Pipelines business spin-off would be called South Bow Corp.

“South Bow symbolizes the historical roots of the company in Alberta, Canada, while acknowledging the pipeline system's strategic path southwards to the strongest US refining markets in the Gulf Coast and Midwest,” stated TC Energy.

“After a strong October and reflecting strength in the US dollar, the 2023 comparable EBITDA is now expected to be approximately 8 percent higher than 2022,” the company explained.

2024 priorities

“The company reaffirms its priority areas for 2024 and provides its expected comparable EBITDA growth outlook of 5 percent to 7 percent from 2023 to 2024, excluding any potential impact of its announced asset divestiture program, and prior to giving effect to the spin-off, which is expected to take place in the second half of 2024,” said TC Energy.

CEO Poirier added that over the past few years, TC Energy has been strategically pivoting capital to optimize its portfolio, leveraging core competencies and capturing the long-term growth potential in the natural gas and power businesses.

“Focusing on the value that can be delivered with two distinct strategies, the spin-off will unlock the evident value we see from each company’s unique opportunity set,” the CEO added.

“Subject to the requisite shareholder and regulatory approvals, upon closing of the spin-off transaction, South Bow is poised to be a low-risk liquids transportation and storage business, and with its anticipated investment-grade credit ratings, it can respond quickly in a market where it holds significant competitive advantages,” Poirier declared. 

NextDecade Corp., the developer of the Rio Grande LNG export project in Brownsville in Texas, has entered into a credit agreement with a group of lenders for $356 million of senior loans to finance a portion of the first three liquefaction Trains.

The US Government expects liquefied natural gas exports to increase in 2023 and 2024 but in the short term during April and May there would be slight declines in the nation’s natural gas output because of pipeline maintenance.

Feb 22 (LNGJ) - Gulfstream LNG, a proposed mid-scale LNG export project located on the shore of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana plans to request that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) begins a pre-filing process after completion of the company’s current initial equity funding round. The Gulfstream project plans to start exporting volumes by 2029 from its mid-scale facility with 4 million tonnes per annum of output.

   The Gulfstream Chief Executive is Vivek Chandra who previously founded Texas LNG, an export project still under development . Under Chandra’s leadership as CEO, Texas LNG completed multiple funding and technical rounds and received its FERC permit. That project then then found engineering partners and was reported to be progressing towards its final investment decision.

The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG monthly export data showing the UK, France, Turkey, Japan and the Netherlands receiving the most cargoes and the most expensive shipments departing from a Louisiana plant.

Freeport LNG has updated the timing of the initial restart of its liquefaction facility on Quintana Island in Texas after repairs and refurbishment following the June 2022 fire.

“The company continues to make notable progress on its path towards the restart of liquefaction operations,” said Freeport.

“As of December 23rd, the reconstruction work necessary to commence initial operations is substantially complete, and the company is submitting responses to the last remaining questions included in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s data request,” added the company.

Freeport explained that given the time needed for the regulatory agencies to review the company’s responses and to seek any necessary clarification, Freeport LNG now does not anticipate commencing the initial restart of its liquefaction facility until the second half of January 2023.

“The company continues to have close, collaborative engagement with the regulatory agencies and that engagement will continue as Freeport LNG works towards the safe restart of its facility,” stated Freeport.

When the explosion occurred, Freeport’s Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Smith and his team had been planning for an expansion from 15 million tonnes per annum of output from three Trains to 20 MTPA with the construction of a fourth Train.

Customers

Freeport LNG's main customers include Japan’s largest importer JERA Co. Inc., the Japanese utilities Kansai Electric and Osaka Gas as well as South Korean company SK E&S and buyers in Europe.

During the first quarter of 2022 before the accident, the Freeport plant exported 55 cargoes mainly to import terminals in Europe and North Asia

Freeport shut on June 8 after a pipe failure caused an explosion due to inadequate operating and testing procedures, human error and fatigue, according to a report by consultants hired by the company to review the incident and suggest action.

Even without Freeport volumes, the amount of gas flowing to US LNG export plants hit 13.0 billion cubic feet per day last week, the most since May 2022, 10 days before the Freeport shutdown.

The Freeport closure meant the nation’s other six large-scale export plants have been operating near full capacity.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, and an importer of liquefied natural gas cargoes from Queensland in Australia and from the US and Qatar, reported a more than 5 percent first-half increase in domestic natural gas output to partially offset its LNG needs.

Liquefied natural gas prices declined by around 8.5 percent on the week for spot cargoes pointing at China, South Korea and Japan in April and May, as well as Europe, on expectations of renewed Asian demand signalled by the oil market.