Page 9 - GLNG Week 45 2021

GLNG AMERICAS GLNG

Wärtsilä completes installation of FSRU

for LNG-to-power project in El Salvador

PROJECTS & FINLAND’S Wärtsilä reported on November fuel, is due to begin operating next year. It will
COMPANIES 10 that it had finished installing the BW Tatiana eventually turn out enough electricity to cover
floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at around 30% of El Salvador’s demand and will be
its designated site offshore El Salvador, near the linked to the Central American Electrical Inter-
port of Acajutla. connection System (known as CAIES). This
In a statement, Wärtsilä indicated that it had system connects the power grids of El Salvador,
also succeeded in bringing the FSRU into oper- Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica
ation. As such, it said, the 137,000-cubic metre and Panama, via a 230-kV transmission line.
vessel is now capable of taking delivery of LNG The BW Tatiana is a converted LNG carrier
shipments to El Salvador. formerly known as the Gallina and previously
Wärtsilä has been participating in the installa- owned by Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands).
tion process as a contractor for Energía del Pacíf- The FSRU, which will be able to regasify LNG at
ico (EDP), the joint venture formed by Invenergy the rate of up to 280mn cubic feet (7.93mn cubic
(US) and BW LNG (Singapore) to operate the metres) per day, will also be the first vessel of its
FSRU. The Finnish engineering company is also kind to be deployed in Central America. It will
providing part of the technology solution for take delivery of LNG, regasify it and transfer it to
EDP’s LNG-to-power scheme, in the form of its a 2-km pipeline for delivery to shore.
50SG gas-powered engines and steam-turbine According to EDP, the project will help El Sal-
cycle, which will be installed in the 378-MW vador reduce its carbon footprint by expanding
thermal power plant (TPP) that the joint venture domestic natural gas consumption. The joint ven-
is building in Acajutla. ture’s new gas-fired TPP will replace older power
This TPP, which will use regasified LNG as stations that burn dirtier residual fuel oil.™

Sempra identifies Vista Pacifico

LNG project as a high priority

PROJECTS & US-BASED Sempra Energy has indicated that it natural gas from the Permian Basin for export to
COMPANIES sees the Vista Pacifico LNG project, which envi- high-demand Asian markets,” he said.
sions the construction of a gas liquefaction and Also during the earnings call, Sempra Ener-
export terminal in Topolobampo, a port in Mex- gy’s CEO Jeffrey Martin described Vista Pacifico
ico’s Sinaloa state, as a high priority. LNG as a higher priority than proposals for the
During an earnings call on November 5, construction of a new LNG plant in Port Arthur
Justin Bird, the CEO of the company’s Sempra on the Texas coast. The Topolobampo project
Infrastructure subsidiary, described Vista Pacif- “definitely can jump ahead of Port Arthur,” he
ico LNG as “an exciting new Pacific opportunity.” told analysts.
He explained that the project would involve the Martin also stated that Vista Pacifico LNG
construction of a gas liquefaction plant and an would have a production capacity comparable
LNG export terminal. These facilities will be built to that of the first stage of Energia Costa Azul
at a site adjacent to an existing petroleum product (ECA), a new gas export facility that Sempra’s
terminal in Topolobampo, he told analysts. Mexican unit IEnova is building at the site of its
Bird pointed out that Vista Pacifico LNG existing LNG regasification plant in Baja Cali-
would receive some of its feedstock via pipe- fornia. “[The] Topolobampo project will be very
lines under Sempra’s control. “This new project similar in scale to ECA Phase 1”, as it will be able
is expected to be a mid-scale facility connected to turn out 3-4mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG,
to two existing pipelines, one of them being the he explained.
high-pressure pipeline system we own in Son- For his part, Bird reported that work on the
ora,” he stated. ECA Phase 1 project was moving forward. “At
Additionally, he drew attention to the termi- ECA LNG Phase 1, engineering, equipment, fab-
nal’s location on Mexico’s west coast, noting that rication and site preparation are well underway,”
the facility could serve as an export outlet for he stated. “The project is on time and on budget,
US-based natural gas producers targeting Asian and we continue to expect first LNG production
buyers. “The project would source lower-cost by the end of 2024.”™

Week 45 12•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9