LNG

Texas LNG Brownsville, the US Gulf Coast export project, said it was making solid advances in signing accords for all volumes available as it remains on track for a final investment decision.

NextDecade Corp., the developer of the Rio Grande LNG export project in Texas, has teamed up with a New York investment fund and TotalEnergies to enable a final investment decision for the first three liquefaction Trains and with the French major buying 5.4 million tonnes per annum of cargoes and taking a large stake in NextDecade.

Venture Global LNG, the operator of the Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana and developer of three other plants in the US Gulf Coast state, said it had successfully raised the roof of the second LNG storage tank at the Plaquemines LNG export project in Louisiana.

Venture Global, based in Arlington, Virginia, said the roof-raising was completed ahead of schedule and came just seven weeks after the roof-raising for tank one.

“This represents another major milestone in the construction of Plaquemines LNG, with both roofs now raised for the tanks serving Phase One,” said Michael Sabel, Chief Executive of Venture Global.

“With Phase One deep into construction and our recent final investment decision and full notice to proceed on Phase Two, Plaquemines is well positioned to be the next new major LNG capacity to reach the global market,” Sabel explained.

Four tanks

This is the second tank of four in total being constructed for Plaquemines, located on the banks of the Mississippi and south of New Orleans.

When operational each tank will be capable of storing 200,000 cubic metres of LNG.

“The roof weighs 900 tons and is 294 feet in diameter. Air raising allows for better and safer access as well as a faster construction schedule, as the roof can be erected concurrently with the shell. The tank dome was raised in 71 minutes using 0.3 psi of pressure underneath the roof,” the company said.

“It was raised from ground level to top of the wall height of 130 feet. Eventually, the tank will have an inner tank made from 9% nickel alloy and an outer wall and outer roof made from concrete to provide full containment of the LNG and provide the maximum level of resilience and safety,” added Venture Global.

The company’s existing export plant, the Calcasieu Pass facility in Cameron Parish in Louisiana, is located south of the city of Lake Charles and shipped its first cargo at the start of March 2022.

The Calcasieu Pass facility comprises 18 small-scale modular liquefaction Trains each with 0.626 million tonnes per annum of capacity and configured in 9 blocks for total nameplate output of 11.26 MTPA.

However, Venture Global has plans for more future output of about 60 MTPA of LNG export capacity.

The company’s three other projects, including the CP2 (Calcasieu Pass 2) venture, are each expected to have nameplate capacity of around 20 MTPA.

As well as the Plaquemines plant there is the Delta LNG project to be constructed on a 540-acre site also in Plaquemines Parish on the banks of the Mississippi.

Chart Industries, the US LNG equipment-maker and industrial gases and clean energy company, reported soaring sales and earnings as well as record orders and a vibrant LNG market as it prepared to close the $4.4 billion take-over of UK engineering company Howden.

Glenfarne Group, the US developer and operator of global energy and infrastructure assets and of the Texas LNG Brownsville and Magnolia LNG projects in Texas and Louisiana, has overhauled the business and formed Glenfarne Energy Transition (GET) for its energy assets while giving estimates for LNG final investment decisions.

NextDecade Corp., the developer of the Rio Grande LNG export project on the Brownsville Ship Channel in Texas, has signed a 20-year sale and purchase agreement with ExxonMobil LNG Asia Pacific.

Under the SPA, the US major’s Asia unit will purchase 1 million metric tonnes per annum of LNG supplied from the first two Trains of the Rio Grande facility. The first Train expected to start commercial operations as early as 2026.

NextDecade mostly recently also signed a third supply agreement with a Chinese company since the start of 2022.

The Houston, Texas-based company signed a 20-year SPA with China Gas Hongda Energy Trading Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Gas Holdings. This deal was also for 1 MTPA of LNG indexed to Henry Hub and delivered on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

NextDecade in April 2022 signed a 20-year SPA with the Singapore trading arm of ENN Group of China and another with China’s Guangdong Energy Group Natural Gas.

“The signing of this long-term SPA with ExxonMobil, a global leader in the energy industry, represents another significant milestone for RGLNG and signifies the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship,” said Matt Schatzman, NextDecade’s Chairman and Chief Executive.

Strategy

“This agreement highlights the success of NextDecade’s strategy to provide customers with low carbon-intensive LNG to help them meet their carbon reduction goals, while providing them access to secure energy supply,” added Schatzman.

The US company has ultimate plans and permits to produce up to 27 MTPA of LNG from five liquefaction Trains at the Rio Grande facility.

“LNG will play an increasingly important role in helping society reduce emissions during the energy transition,” said Peter Clarke, Senior Vice President of LNG for the ExxonMobil Upstream Company.

“We look forward to working with NextDecade to continue growing ExxonMobil’s LNG portfolio and delivering the lower-emissions energy the world needs,” added Clarke.

NextDecade has said that based on current expected demand for LNG and assuming the achievement of further LNG contracting and financing, the company anticipated making a positive final investment decision on up to three Trains in the second half of 2022, with FIDs of its remaining Trains to follow thereafter.

Glenfarne, a New York-based fund specialising in energy infrastructure investment, is keeping the regulatory pot boiling on the Magnolia LNG export plant in Louisiana by filing a monthly activities report for through October 2021 after the completion deadline was extended to 2026.

Tellurian Inc. appears to be set to renew its preliminary liquefied natural gas supply and equity investment deal with Indian importer Petronet LNG as the US firm’s shares jumped by more than 56 percent on the Nasdaq global exchange after leaks by executives.

NextDecade Corp., the Houston-based developer of the Rio Grande LNG export plant in the Texan port of Brownsville, will have five liquefaction Trains instead of six while maintaining annual output of 27 million tonnes per annum.

Alaska Gasline Development Corp. has released an updated $38.7 billion cost estimate for the Alaska LNG Project, which it believed would increase the project’s ability to deliver natural gas to Alaskans and LNG to export markets at competitive prices.