LNG

US company Argent LNG, with plans to develop a liquefaction plant at Port Fourchon in Louisiana, has selected Chart Industries to supply modular processing equipment.

Argent is proposing a facility at a 144-acre site west of Belle Pass on the Louisiana Gulf Coast with an initial capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum which could be doubled.

The Argent plant will feature modules and the volumes produced would be targeted at the LNG maritime fuel market.

These include the next-generation of LNG-powered Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs) in the Gulf of Mexico.

Atlanta, Georgia-based Chart will be supplying its Integrated Pre-Cooled Single Mixed Refrigerant (IPSMR®) processing technology to the Louisiana plant.

Advantages

“Chart’s IPSMR sets a new standard for efficiency and performance in liquefaction, surpassing conventional technologies and enabling Argent LNG to tailor its liquefaction systems precisely to site-specific conditions,” explained Chart.

Chart said that its equipment has the capability to optimize the matching of gas turbine power with single cold box capacity, ensuring maximum operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

“We are excited to embark on this transformative journey with Chart Industries,” said Jonathan Bass, CEO at Argent LNG.

“Their mid-scale modular model perfectly aligns with our vision for an agile and efficient LNG facility,” stated Bass.

“The technology's superior performance will empower us to optimize operations and deliver a compelling, competitive solution to the market, which is scheduled to come online in 2029-2030,” added Bass.

Chart has listed the advantages of its technology including cost and the ease of fine-tuning system configuration while maintaining high performance standards.

Engineering start

“We are excited to partner with Argent LNG to provide our IPSMR® technology, brazed aluminum heat exchangers, coldboxes and air coolers,” stated Jill Evanko, Chart’s Chief Executive and President.

“Argent is strategically optimising a 20 MTPA LNG facility by moving entirely to modular, resulting in a smaller footprint, higher efficiency and less cost, and therefore offering their customers the most efficient and effective solution,” Evanko added.

Chart said it had begun engineering work related to the Argent project and anticipated booking an IPSMR® technology and equipment order in 2025.

Equinor, the Norwegian supplier of pipeline natural gas to Europe and LNG cargoes, has agreed a US deal with shale-gas giant EQT Corp. to swap Equinor’s operated position in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in Ohio for a stake in EQT’s non-operated interest in the Northern Marcellus shale formation.

Under the transaction, Equinor will sell 100 percent interest in and operatorship of its onshore asset in the Appalachian Basin, located in southeast Ohio, in exchange for 40 percent of EQT’s non-operated working interest in the North Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania.

Equinor said it would pay a cash consideration of $500 million to EQT to balance the overall transaction, swapping for resources that contribute to growing cashflows and further reducing carbon-dioxide emissions intensity in the international portfolio.

Shale Gas No. 1

EQT is the largest producer of natural gas in the US with operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

Equinor is also the owner of the Hammerfest LNG export plant in northern Norway that came on stream in 2007 and it was initially developed to export LNG to the US before the extent of America’s shale-gas resources became clear and the US later became the world’s No. 1 LNG exporter.

Following the shale swap transaction, Equinor said it would increase its average working interest from 15.7 percent to 25.7 percent in certain Chesapeake Energy-operated Northern Marcellus gas units.

However, the strategy of the Norwegian company also involves moving out of all operated shale-gas interests in the main US basins.

“To cover pre-existing gas sales commitments, Equinor will enter a gas buy-back agreement with EQT,” the Norwegian company explained.

Philippe Mathieu, executive vice president for Exploration and Production International at Equinor, said this transaction means the company will continue to “high-grade the US portfolio and improve profitability by strengthening our gas position” in the most robust part of the Appalachian Basin.

“These assets are well positioned to leverage anticipated positive developments in the US gas market,” stated Mathieu.

“The proposed swap improves portfolio robustness with an expected reduction in well break-evens and upstream carbon intensity. This also means that we have now fully exited all operated positions onshore US,” he explained.

Equinor US strategy

“The US is a core area for Equinor where we’re building a broad energy business within offshore and onshore oil and gas, offshore wind, and new low-carbon value chains,” Mathieu added.

EQT President and Chief Executive Toby Z. Rice stated said he was very pleased with the Equinor swap deal.

“This transaction marks an extremely positive start to our divestiture program, bringing in over $1.1 billion of value, including synergies and development plan optimization, for 40 percent of our non-operated assets, while retaining gas price upside,” stated Rice.

“We plan to opportunistically divest the remaining portion of our non-operated assets in Northeast Pennsylvania and have tremendous confidence in being able to achieve our de-leveraging goals,” he added.

Equinor said its US business had recorded $11 billion in earnings since 2020.

“Prior to this transaction, the Appalachian Basin operated position was the last remaining operatorship held by Equinor in the US onshore,” the company added.

Equinor noted that final completion will, among other things, be dependent on approval by relevant authorities. 

EQT Corp., the leading US natural gas producer in the Appalachia Shale Basin of the northeast US, said it was seeking overseas LNG customers after signing a second accord with a US Gulf Coast project and this time with the proposed Commonwealth LNG venture in Louisiana.

EQT, a natural gas company few have heard of outside of America and which is the nation’s biggest gas producer and runs the “Unleash US LNG” advocacy campaign, reported strong fourth-quarter and annual earnings.

Chevron Corp., the US oil and gas major with additional successful LNG plants in Australia and in Africa and a pipeline gas supply business in the Middle East, has overhauled its corporate structure and senior executive team to strengthen portfolio operations.

Chevron, based in San Ramon in California, said that from October 2022 the company would consolidate its Upstream, Midstream and Downstream business segments under a new executive vice president for Oil, Products & Gas, who will oversee the full value chain.

As part of this change, the company is consolidating into two Upstream regions, Americas Exploration & Production and International Exploration & Production.

The company is also organizing its Strategy & Sustainability, Corporate Affairs and Business Development functions under a new executive vice president for Strategy, Policy & Development.

“The changes build on the company’s enterprise-wide transformation in 2020, which has produced improved operational and financial results,” said Chevron.

Chevron believes the new leadership structure will enable a more integrated approach to capital allocation, asset class excellence and value-chain optimization, and “facilitate more effective external engagement and business development” impacts.

Progress

“We’ve made significant progress over the last two years, and these changes position us to further enhance execution across all aspects of our business as the energy system evolves,” said Mike Wirth, Chevron’s Chairman and Chief Executive.

“It will also bring strategy, policy and business development into tighter alignment as we focus on leveraging our strengths to deliver lower carbon energy to a growing world,” stated Wirth.

The company made the following personnel appointments, effective October 1, 2022:

Mark Nelson was named executive vice president, Strategy, Policy & Development and Nigel Hearne is the new executive vice president, Oil, Products & Gas. Nelson and Hearne will report to Wirth in their new roles.

Clay Neff is the new president, International Exploration & Production; Bruce Niemeyer was named president, Americas Exploration & Production; and Balaji Krishnamurthy is taking the vice president role for Chevron Strategy & Sustainability.

LNG operations

Chevron’s major LNG activities are as the operator of three plants, Gorgon LNG and Wheatstone LNG in Western Australia and Angola LNG in southwest Africa.

Additionally, Chevron took over natural gas fields and assets offshore Israel when it acquired Noble Energy.

The company made additional personnel announcements regarding other senior executives.

Jay Johnson, executive vice president, Upstream, was named executive vice president, senior advisor, effective October 1, 2022, and will support the transition until January 31, 2023.

Johnson has more than 41 years of service to the company.

Retirees

Jay Pryor, vice president, Chevron Business Development, will retire after more than 43 years of service to the company, effective July 29, 2022.

Steve Green, president, Chevron North America Exploration & Production, will also retire after more than 24 years of service to the company and its predecessors, effective September 30, 2022.

“I’m confident that our new team will continue to effectively lead the company in delivering the affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy that enables human progress,” said Wirth.

Wirth stated that he especially thanked Jay Johnson, Jay Pryor and Steve Green for all they’ve done for Chevron, the industry and the company's employees over the course of their careers.

“Each of them exemplifies the finest qualities of character, integrity and excellence, and their influence will be felt for many decades still to come,” stated Wirth. 

The US Department of Energy has revealed that US liquefied natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy has signed a firm medium-term supply deal with French utility Engie from volumes produced at the Corpus Christi plant in Texas.

The DoE outlined the agreement as lasting for 11 year and amounting to between 400,000 tonnes and 1.2 million tonnes per annum on a free-on-board (FOB) basis whereby the French company pays for the shipping.

Analysts say the secrecy could be because the French government under President Emmanuel Macron had resolved to curb imports of LNG produced from hydraulic fracturing for shale gas.

Cheniere had previously announced away back in 2015 that its unit, Cheniere LNG Marketing, had signed a five-year deal with Engie for the delivery of LNG cargoes to the Montoir-de-Bretagne facility on the Atlantic Coast of France.

Cheniere also signed a deal in early November 2021 to supply cargoes to China’s Sinochem Group, the state-owned producer of fertiliser products and agrochemicals.

Under that deal, Sinochem agreed to purchase an initial volume of around 900,000 tonnes per annum beginning in July 2022 and which then increases to 1.8 MTPA.

The SPA has a term of 17-and-a-half years and Sinochem will purchase the LNG volumes like Engie on a FOB basis.

Cheniere said the Sinochem purchase price was indexed to the Henry Hub natural gas benchmark plus a fixed liquefaction fee.

Cheniere also recently executed two other long-term sale and purchase agreements with ENN Group of China and UK-listed global commodities firm Glencore.

The new agreements coincide with Cheniere's planned expansion with a new sixth Train coming on stream at Sabine Pass in Louisiana and a final investment decision coming up for a mid-sized production project at the Corpus Christi plant in Texas.

Cheniere will start commercial operations on Train 6 in the first quarter of 2022, about a year ahead of the guaranteed completion schedule.

Cheniere produces a nameplate 22.5 MTPA from the Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana and with Train 6 in operation output will jump to 27 MTPA.

The Corpus Christi plant will expand with seven mid-scale liquefaction Trains adjacent to the existing facility and adding almost 10 MTPA to the 13.5 MTPA from the three larger Trains, each producing 4.5 MTPA.

Global natural gas demand is expected to rise by 3.6 percent in 2021 before easing to an average growth rate of 1.7 percent over the following three years, though by 2024 demand is forecast to be up 7 percent from 2019 pre-Covid-19 levels, according to the latest quarterly Gas Market Report from the Paris-based International Energy Agency.

The US Department of Energy has issued a rule to exclude some licensing and environmental requirements for liquefied natural gas export projects that had previously been required in a show of support for the energy industry by the Administration of President Donald Trump.

The rule, which the Department of Energy issued in a pre-publication notice in the Federal Register, frees LNG export and import license applications from including environmental reviews that had been required under an environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act.

The DoE said it was updating its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures pertaining to authorizations issued under the Natural Gas Act.

“These changes will improve the efficiency of the DoE decision-making process by saving time and expense in the NEPA compliance process and eliminating unnecessary environmental documentation for these actions that the DoE has determined normally do not have significant effects,” said the filing to be published in the Federal Register on December 4, 2020.

The DoE said in the notice that the rule would “save time and expense in the NEPA compliance process”.

The rule is effective 30 days after December 4 Federal Register publication.

Analysts said there was a possibility that a new President could overturn the DoE ruling, but the outcome of the November Presidential election is still unclear amid evidence of poll fraud, which has shocked many people in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East and lowered their regard for American fairness.

The Trump Administration has overseen a surge in natural gas development and US energy independence as the nation has become the world’s third-largest LNG exporter after being an net importer before the shale revolution.

The DoE rule would not affect environmental reviews by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the other government office that reviews LNG projects.

President Trump has supported supplying US allies with LNG and the largest recipients of cargoes have been to countries like South Korea and Japan as well as European countries which have been taking US LNG cargoes as an available alternative to Russian pipeline natural gas.

The Energy Information Agency declared the US the third-largest LNG exporter in May 2019, overtaking Malaysia, after shipments reached a new peak of 4.7 billion cubic feet per day.

The US has six export plants on stream, Sabine Pass and Cameron LNG in Louisiana, Corpus Christi and Freeport in Texas, as well as Cove Point In Maryland and Elba Island in Georgia.

Other projects are under development and about half a dozen are likely to be constructed in the next five years, mainly on the Gulf Coast of Texas and Lousiana. 

Tokyo Gas, one of the leading Japanese LNG importer with a supply agreement at the Cove Point plant in Maryland, has now significantly boosted its shale-gas production plans in Texas by acquiring an additional stake in Houston, Texas-based Castleton Resources to own a majority of the company

UK major BP has agreed a $5 billion deal to sell its global petrochemicals business to Ineos, a European chemicals and refinery company and an importer of ethane made from US shale gas.