Page 5 - NorthAmOil Week 49 2021
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NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil
Cheniere is expected to
take an FID on Corpus
Christi LNG Stage 3 in
2022.
the pipeline is Delta LNG, another 20mn tpy to previously signed contracts, these meant the
project, though that scheme is currently under- commercialisation of Corpus Christi Stage 3
going FERC review, and little more has been was “close to completion”.
said about it to date. Not all US LNG developers have had as much
The 10mn tpy Calcasieu Pass, together with success as Venture Global and Cheniere in
Plaquemines and CP2, would bring Venture advancing their plans, though. Last week, Pem-
Global’s total investment in Louisiana LNG bina Pipeline formally abandoned the Jordan
projects to more than $20bn, Venture Global Cove LNG project, which had been proposed
said. for Oregon’s Pacific Coast.
Analysts have estimated that Calcasieu Pass The company had already paused develop-
cost about $4.5bn to build, and Venture Global ment of Jordan Cove in April after failing to
is taking a modular approach to its liquefaction secure state permits for the project, so its can-
projects, with each 626,000 tpy liquefaction cellation came as no surprise. However, its fate
module fabricated offsite and delivered fully illustrates that building projects outside the Gulf
assembled. The company, which is the newest Coast can be challenging. And even on parts of
entrant into the US LNG industry, touts this the Gulf Coast, such as at the Port of Brownsville
method as allowing it to build its terminals in Texas, developers have struggled to move for- The US’
more quickly and with less risk than traditional ward with their plans, and one of three proposed
LNG projects. Indeed, Calcasieu Pass is coming projects has already been scrapped. liquefaction
online ahead of its original schedule, though capacity
it is yet to demonstrate its ability to operate What next?
smoothly. The US’ liquefaction capacity dominance will dominance will
Cheniere is also pushing ahead with plans for prove relatively short-lived, given that Qatar’s
its next capacity addition – the Stage 3 expan- North Field expansion – the single largest LNG prove relatively
sion at its Corpus Christi LNG project in Texas. project in the world – is currently under con-
An FID on the expansion, which would involve struction. North Field East will take Qatar’s liq- short-lived.
a shift away from Cheniere’s 5mn tpy trains to uefaction capacity from 77mn tpy to 110mn tpy
mid-scale trains with a combined capacity of by around the end of 2025. Then the North Field
10mn tpy, is anticipated in 2022. However, this South project will bring Qatar’s liquefaction
week, Cheniere asked FERC for an extension capacity to 126mn tpy.
until June 2027 to complete the expansion. Beyond this, there is considerable uncer-
The company cited the coronavirus (COVID- tainty over the role of natural gas and LNG
19) pandemic, saying its onset had slowed com- in the energy mix given the pace at which the
mercial progress on the expansion project, energy transition has accelerated. But given the
delaying FID and the start of construction. gas supply crunch this year, gas may yet have
However, it added that it had signed around more potential than previously expected as
6mn tpy worth of long-term offtake contracts countries try to decarbonise while keeping a
in the past 12 months, saying that in addition lid on energy costs.
Week 49 09•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P5
