LNG

The Galveston LNG Bunker Port project is seeking authorisation to site, construct and operate a proposed small-scale liquefied natural gas production facility on Shoal Point in Texas to provide clean shipping fuel to the Galveston Bay and Greater Houston port area.

Included in the plans are two LNG liquefaction Trains capable of producing around 600,000 gallons per day of LNG.

The LNG production plant for bunkering is a joint venture involving Pilot LNG and Seapath Group, a subsidiary of the Libra Group.

The filing with the state and federal agencies includes a permit required from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) covering the various developments.

LNG storage

In addition to the liquefaction plant, the Galveston LNG Bunker Port is also seeking approval to build two LNG storage tanks each with 3 million gallons of capacity, feed-gas pre-treatment equipment, a bunkering vessel loading berth and associated marine and loading facilities.

“We are confident that we will meet the rigorous requirements of state and local permitting authorities to ensure that the project is delivered on-time and will meet the ever-growing demand for clean fuel supply in the Galveston Bay and US Gulf Coast region by the end of 2026,” said Shaun Davison, Chief Development Officer of Pilot LNG.

Pilot LNG and Seapath said they signed a project development agreement in September of 2023 that provides a framework for the development, technical design, permitting and marketing of the proposed liquefaction project.

“Our experience in developing, building, and operating energy infrastructure will help us with this much-needed facility,” said Joshua Lubarsky, President of Seapath.

“This facility is a critical investment into the resilience of US maritime infrastructure, and upon construction will immediately provide positive environmental and economic impacts in Texas City, Galveston,” stated Lubarsky.

Pilot LNG is the frontline developer while it will receive financial support from partner Seapath.

Both companies said that the bunkering port would be “ideally situated” to supply the growing Galveston Bay Port Complex fuel and bunkering markets.

“This includes LNG marine fuel deliveries directly to customers in the port complex and surrounding areas, such as the Galveston Offshore Lightering Area,” they added.

Other permits required include those from the Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC) for the Texas Clean Water Act (CWA) and the United States Coast Guard for a Waterway Suitability Assessment.

Chart Industries, the LNG equipment and industrial gas technology company, has closed the sale of the subsidiary Cofimco to a London-based private equity firm as divestments continue to pay down debts while Chart will now be a customer of Cofimco.

The purchaser of Cofimco was PX3 Partners in an all-cash transaction for around $80 million.

PX3 Partners said it was pleased to acquire Cofimco, a leading provider of engineered air-moving solutions used in demanding industrial cooling applications.

“The transaction represented the second investment from PX3’s inaugural fund and draws on PX3’s transatlantic reach and global DNA, while leveraging the firm’s proven corporate carve-out skill set,” said the firm.

Bespoke products

Headquartered in Italy, Cofimco is a leading designer, manufacturer and seller of axial cooling fans and related services.

“Its specialised and bespoke products and services are distributed to a global and diversified customer base across more than 60 countries and support their industrial processes with mission critical heat-control solutions, ensuring that they can operate safely and continuously, including by reducing thermal pollution,” explained PX3.

“Cofimco’s products and services are deployed in demanding heat-generating processes in a wide range of end markets, including energy and power generation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), industrials and LNG,” it added.

PX3 said that Cofimco was a trusted and globally recognised brand with proven, patented products and technologies.

The company benefits from a large installed base and a strong aftermarket sales model, with Chart Industries remaining a customer of Cofimco following the transaction.

PX3’s investment in Cofimco aligns closely with the three pillars of its investment strategy.

“Through its customer centricity and energy efficient products, the company benefits from two of the transformative themes that PX3 seeks to underwrite, namely Compete Smarter and Planet First,” it stated.

“Furthermore, it operates in the branded light manufacturing and building tech segments of industrials, two of PX3’s areas of focus,” it added.

Benefits

PX3 said that Cofimco would benefit further from PX3’s global network of deep relationships and its expertise in helping businesses grow internationally across Europe, North America and Asia.

“Following our investment in Filtration, we are excited to announce the acquisition of Cofimco, a global market leader in engineered air moving and cooling solutions,” PX3 concluded.

PX3 stands for “purpose, passion, and performance” and is a pan-European private equity firm that targets companies operating within select segments of the business services, consumer and leisure, and industrials sectors with strong business fundamentals.

“PX3 is committed to supporting Cofimco and its management team to drive transformative growth internationally and operational improvement,” it said.

Air Products, the US LNG equipment-maker and industrial gases company with several mega-projects in the Middle East and Asia, has signed a deal with the Uzbekistan Government and the national gas company to acquire a gas-to-syngas facility for $1 billion in the former Soviet republic.

Baker Hughes, the US liquefied natural gas equipment-maker and energy services company, reported a first-quarter rise in orders, revenues and operating income as liquefaction projects advanced to construction.

Baker Hughes, the US liquefied natural gas equipment-maker and energy services company, said in reporting third-quarter earnings that even amid economic challenges the outlook for oil, gas and LNG was supportive of a multi-year upturn in spending.

Accelleron Industries AG, a market leader in high-powered turbochargers used in LNG-fuelled ships, has been successfully spun-off from ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB), the Swiss-Swedish power technology group.

Accelleron’s shares are now trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich under the ticker symbol “ACLN”.

The stock was first priced at 24.75 Swiss francs ($25.50) per share.

The listing follows the approval by ABB shareholders for the spin-off of Baden, Switzerland headquartered Accelleron at ABB’s extraordinary general shareholder meeting on September 7.

“As an independent business, Accelleron will now focus on implementing its own, independent growth strategy with an attractive cash generation profile,” said a statement.

“This will build upon Accelleron’s position as a market leader in heavy-duty turbocharging for the marine and energy industries,” it added.

The cruise liner “AIDAnova” was the first in its class to be operated on purely LNG fuel and uses Accelleron’s TPL-C turbochargers.

Legacy

“I am excited about the opportunities ahead, building on our 100-year legacy with ABB and our position as the market leader in high-power turbocharging,” said Oliver Riemenschneider, Chairman of Accelleron's Board.

“We have an impressive growth strategy driven by our leading technology and services offering, coupled with our commitment to research and development,” added Riemenschneider.

“I am confident that we are well positioned to take advantage of global megatrends and deliver compelling results for our stakeholders,” he stated.

The statement added that “sustainability” was at the center of Accelleron’s business as the company is a pioneer in reducing fuel consumption and improving the emissions profiles for customers.

“Accelleron is well placed to capitalize on the opportunities presented by renewable energy and sustainable transportation, with its best-in-class product portfolio, its leading R&D capabilities and its acknowledged innovation,” added company.

Baker Hughes, the LNG equipment-maker and energy services company, reported an increase in first-quarter revenues to $4.83 billion and a 70 percent jump in operating income to $279 million while forecasting LNG final investment decisions on up to 150 million tonnes per annum of projects in the next two years.

The company, which has main offices in Houston and London, reported net income of $72M in the quarter to the end of March 2022 versus a loss of $452M in the same three months of 2021.

“Our first quarter results reflect operating in a very volatile market environment during the first few months of 2022,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, Baker Hughes Chairman and Chief Executive.

“On the positive side, we recorded strong orders from Turbomachinery and Process Solutions (TPS) as the LNG order cycle continues to unfold,” stated the CEO.

The company said TPS orders totalled $3Bln for the second consecutive quarter, driven again by strong orders in LNG.

“We believe that we are at the beginning of another constructive LNG cycle, which is being expedited by the current geopolitical situation, particularly for US LNG projects,” stated Simonelli.

“As these market dynamics play out, a number of projects should accelerate, and we now believe that 100 to 150 MTPA of LNG FIDs will be authorized over the next two years with additional FIDs becoming more likely in 2024 and 2025,” declared the CEO.

Record orders

Orders in the quarter were $3.0Bln, up $1.6Bln year-over-year and a new quarterly record for TPS.

Simonelli said that equipment orders were up $1.5Bln year-over-year, driven by a significant award to provide an LNG system for the first phase of US company Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG project, located south of New Orleans on the Mississippi River in Louisiana.

Service orders in the quarter were up 8 percent year-over-year, primarily driven by growth in contractual and transactional services, partially offset by lower order volumes in upgrades.

Overall orders in the quarter were $6.8Bln, up 3 percent versus the three months to the end of 2021, driven by Oil Field Equipment and TPS, partially offset by a decrease in Digital Solutions and OFS.

Year-over-year, revenue was up 1 percent compared with $4.78Bln in the prior-year quarter, driven by increases in OFS and Digital Solutions, partially offset by decreases in OFE and TPS.

Adjusted operating income was $348M, which excluded $70M of restructuring, separation and other charges.

Russia issue

As regards the conflict in Ukraine, Baker Hughes said Russia represented roughly 4 percent of total company revenue in the first quarter.

“We recently announced that we have halted all new investment in the country,” said the company.

Oilfield Services revenues in the quarter amounted to $2.5Bln, down 3 percent from the previous three months.

“International revenue was down 7 percent sequentially led by declines in the North Sea, Russia Caspian, the Middle East, and Latin America,” said Baker Hughes.

Moving to the Oilfield Equipment division, the company said that orders for the quarter were $739M, double the $394M achieved in the same three months of 2021.

It added that the strong orders performance was driven by subsea production systems (SPS), supported by a large subsea tree contract in Asia, along with growth in flexibles, surface pressure control and services.

“As a reminder, we removed Subsea Drilling Systems from consolidated OFE operations when we completed the merger with MHWirth in the fourth quarter of 2021,” Baker Hughes explained.

The company concluded that revenue in the division was $528M, down 16 percent year-over-year, primarily driven by SPS, SPC and the removal of SDS, partially offset by growth in services and flexibles.

Chart Industries, the US maker of LNG and industrial gases equipment for the energy transition, reported record fourth-quarter and annual orders and is poised to deliver for three major LNG export projects likely to proceed in 2022 on the US Gulf Coast.

Chart Industries, the US maker of LNG and industrial gases equipment for the energy transition, has just been awarded four liquefaction project orders from four different customers.

Chart said the orders for the smaller scale sector were worth more than $120 million.

Additionally, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company has received releases on engineering work, amounting to limited notice to proceed, on two of the “Big LNG” export plant projects which are expected to proceed to final investment decision in 2022.

Highlights of the four liquefaction project awards include a hydrogen liquefier.

The 15-ton-per-day liquefier will be built in North America with a new hydrogen liquefaction customer.

“This is our fourth hydrogen-helium liquefaction order of the year in 2021 and with those four orders totalling approximately $150M, covering three different geographies and three different customers,” Chart explained.

Liquefaction

The orders also include a 60,000-ton BioLNG liquefaction train and associated equipment.

Chart added that the third order is for a BioLNG facility and associated station infrastructure for 20 BioLNG stations with an established European customer, Verbio.

The fourth order is for a utility-scale LNG liquefaction plant which is an integrated facility and the first in the nation with a hybrid (gas-electric) drive and for a customer in the Northeast US.

Chart added that this customer plans to utilize both natural gas and renewable natural gas (RNG) in this long-duration energy storage solution meeting reliability and environmental targets.

“We are pleased that our hydrogen and LNG liquefaction process technology and equipment capabilities are recognized and utilized globally and across industries,” stated Jill Evanko, Chart’s Chief Executive and President.

“We view this past week’s awards and overall continued broad-based demand as strong indicators that the energy transition is accelerating,” added Evanko.

“These orders give further support to our previously announced 2022 outlook,” stated the CEO. 

Burckhardt Compression, the Swiss-based LNG equipment maker for LNG shipping, said its oil-free, high-pressure compressor had highlighted its operational effectiveness on an LNG carrier. 

The Winterthur-based company said its Laby GI Compressor type LP250, the world’s first oil-free reciprocating high-pressure fuel-gas compressor in service, reached 10,000 hours of uninterrupted operations.

The compressor system is installed on an LNG carrier with capacity of 174,000 cubic metres.

Burckhardt notes that it is the only manufacturer able to compress gas to 300 bar in a large, ring-sealed compressor system without cylinder lubrication.

In addition to its Swiss operations, Burckhardt has expanded in recent years to run compressor and service businesses in the US, Japan and China.

Burckhardt said its Laby GI fuel-gas compressor system plays an important role on LNG carriers to help maximise fuel efficiency.

“As the liquified natural gas warms up during storage and transportation, the evaporated boil-off gas must be economically managed by either using it as fuel or re-liquefying it,” the company explained.

“Both, dual-fuel engines as well as re-liquefaction plants, require a certain operation pressure, ranging up to 300 bar,” it added.

“Therefore, Burckhardt’s LNG solutions have been specifically designed to handle gases at low temperature and high pressure while meeting the requirements for operation at sea,” noted the company.

Burckhardt's five-stage fuel gas compressor system is designed to manage the vessel’s boil-off gas with a flow of up to 4’700 kg/h.

The company pointed out that dry-running sealing technology saved significant expenditure for cylinder lubrication and filter maintenance.

“The performance of the high-pressure re-liquefaction system is improved due to the absence of fouling caused by small traces of residual oil carried within the gas,” it said.

The oil-free gas compression completely removes the need for oil separation and gas filtration technology and guarantees the cleanliness of the heat exchanger in the high-pressure re-liquefaction system.

In addition, maintenance intervals for the oil-free, high-pressure sealing technology are confirmed to reach 8,000 operating hours.

At the start of 2021, Burckhardt signed a final contract agreeing to acquire the 40 percent of Chinese company Shenyang Yuanda Compressor it didn’t already own.

The contract meant the Swiss firm owned all of the Shenyang Yuanda Compressor company based in Shenyang in the northeast Liaoning Province of China.

The company had owned 60 percent of Shenyang Yuanda Compressor since May 2016.

Burckhardt had previously taken a stake in US firm Arkos Field Services and the business was fully acquired in November 2019.

It additionally completed a deal in April 2020 to acquire the global compressor business of Japan Steel Works Ltd.