LNG News Editor:
Sempra, the energy company with LNG assets and projects in Louisiana and Mexico as well as power and gas businesses in California and Texas, reported a jump in first-quarter revenue to $3.82 billion from $3.25Bln, though net profits fell because of one-time items and amid continued investment.
The San Diego, California-based utility and energy player posted a drop in first-quarter net income attributable to shareholders to $612M versus $874M in the prior-year quarter, citing one-time impacts on earnings while the company continued to invest in LNG and energy transition assets.
LNG expansion
One-time items included $66M quarterly costs for the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage litigation in California, $75M for foreign currency impacts and higher commodity derivatives expense of $51M.
“Our investments in North American energy networks are designed to improve the safety and reliability of our services for the benefit of our customers and the communities we serve,” said Jeffrey W. Martin, Chairman and Chief Executive of Sempra.
Sempra said its Sempra Infrastructure Partners unit, which contains the LNG assets such as Cameron LNG at Hackberry and the Costa Azul plant in Mexico, was expanding the North American LNG network “uniquely positioned” to serve customers in both the Pacific and Atlantic markets.
“The company also is continuing to support growing integration of North American energy markets through its US-Mexico cross-border infrastructure business,” added Sempra.
“To support its growth, the company took steps to advance the development of its Cameron LNG Phase 2 expansion project with its partners at the Cameron LNG joint venture,” stated the company.
These include a non-binding Heads of Agreement, which provides the commercial framework for the expansion of the Louisiana facility by adding a fourth liquefaction Train and also increasing the production capacity of the existing three Trains through debottlenecking activities.
“Concurrent with these activities, Cameron LNG is also conducting a competitive front-end engineering and design process,” explained Sempra.
“This development work is targeted to be completed in the summer of 2023 and the company expects to be in a position to make a final investment decision thereafter,” it declared.
Sempra noted that in March, the company announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding with French major TotalEnergies for the company's second Mexican LNG project, the Vista Pacífico development.
“The referenced MOU for the Vista Pacífico project contemplates TotalEnergies contracting for approximately one-third of the long-term export production, as well as TotalEnergies' participation as a minority equity investor in the project,” added Sempra.
Abu Dhabi stake
Sempra noted that it also expected to close the sale of a non-controlling 10 percent interest in Sempra Infrastructure Partners to a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates, for $1.78Bln in cash in the second quarter.
