Page 8 - GLNG Week 16 2021

GLNG AMERICAS GLNG

NextDecade advances clean LNG plans

ENERGY IT has been another busy week for US-based independent third-party measurement and cer-
TRANSITION LNG developer NextDecade, which is trying to tification of the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity
position its proposed Rio Grande liquefaction of the LNG to be sold from Rio Grande.
project at Texas’ Port of Brownsville as one of Project Canary specialises in continuous
the most environmentally friendly facilities of emissions monitoring and related technologies
its kind. The company announced two sepa- to assess environmental performance across the
rate partnerships in recent days that are geared energy value chain. Under its partnership with
towards bolstering Rio Grande LNG’s green NextDecade – the first in the global LNG indus-
credentials. try – Project Canary will deploy its TrustWell
On April 14, NextDecade announced that certification process.
it had signed an engineering services agree- This comes after NextDecade launched a
ment (ESA) with Mitsubishi Heavy Indus- subsidiary, NEXT Carbon Solutions, last month
tries America (MHIA) for the design, licence to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS)
and performance guarantee of the KM CDR plant to support Rio Grande LNG and capture
Process. This is a post-combustion carbon most of its emissions. Later in March, the com-
capture technology that will be applied at Rio pany also struck a preliminary deal with Occi-
Grande LNG. dental Petroleum’s Oxy Low Carbon Ventures
MHIA’s parent company, Mitsubishi Heavy unit for offtake and storage of carbon dioxide
Industries Group, has deployed 13 carbon cap- (CO2) from the project.
ture systems around the world, including what it NextDecade has not yet reached a final
says is the world’s largest post-combustion car- investment decision (FID) on Rio Grande, but
bon capture facility. The first phase of the carbon is aiming to sanction at least two trains at the
capture project at Rio Grande LNG is expected to 27mn tonne per year (tpy) facility this year. An
be comparable in size to this facility. FID on the associated CCS project is expected to
Days later, on April 19, NextDecade said it follow. The flurry of deals being announced by
was partnering with Project Canary on a pilot NextDecade suggests that the company is mov-
project aimed at monitoring, reporting and ing closer to the FIDs.™

ASIA

PetroVietnam to build LNG-fired power plant

PROJECTS & STATE-OWNED PetroVietnam reportedly 2015, Hanoi’s power targets will require foreign
COMPANIES intends to build a $1.5bn LNG-fired thermal gas supplies to be realised.
power plant (TPP) in the country’s southern Investment and asset manager VinaCapital
province of Ca Mau. announced on March 22 that it would build a
Subsidiary PetroVietnam Power wants to $3bn LNG-to-power plant in Long An Prov-
begin building the 1,500-MW Ca Mau Power ince with South Korea’s GS Energy. VinaCap-
Plant 3, which will be located in Khanh An ital said it aimed to bring the first phase of the
Commune, in 2022, with the facility slated for 3,000-MW facility online by the end of 2025.
commissioning in 2026, local daily VN Express VinaCapital expects to source feedstock from
reported on April 16. The plant will span 26 hec- US suppliers.
tares (260,000 square metres). Commodity trader Gunvor International and
The project joins a growing list of LNG-to- US-based Energy Capital Vietnam, meanwhile,
power developments that have moved closer signed a deal in December 2020 for feedstock
to realisation in recent months, as the country supply to an LNG-to-power project in Binh
looks to replace some of its coal-fired power gen- Thuan Province. The two companies agreed to
eration with LNG. form a joint venture that would trade and ship
The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s draft LNG on ECV’s behalf, with long-term supplies
Power Development Plan (PDP) VIII has pro- to come from Gunvor’s portfolio.
posed raising the share of gas-fired power capac- General Electric (GE), meanwhile, signed an
ity from about 14.9% in 2020 to 21% in 2030 and MoU with Vietnam’s EVN Genco3 in Novem-
24% in 2045. ber 2020 to develop the Long Son LNG-to-
Given that the country’s power demand power project, slated to start up by 2025, in Ba
increases by an estimated 10% every year and Ria-Vung Tau Province. GE will be contracted
domestic gas production has effectively pla- to install the gas turbine technology and certain
teaued since peaking at 10.3bn cubic metres in other equipment.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 16 23•April•2021