Page 16 - NorthAmOil Week 03 2021

NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil

NextDecade deal

for Irish LNG supply

falls through

US-IRELAND PROSPECTS for Irish LNG imports have
dimmed further after a preliminary deal with
US exporter NextDecade on plans for a floating
storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Cork
expired at the end of last year.
NextDecade agreed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the Cork port
authorities in 2017 on establishing an inlet for
LNG supplies in Ireland, whose own gas supply
is dwindling, leaving it more reliant on imports
from the UK. But doubts about the project have
been growing for years, amid Irish authorities’
mounting aversion to fossil fuels.
“Due to the increased uncertainty in Ireland’s
evolving policies regarding the importation of
LNG, NextDecade has elected to suspend devel-
opment activities,” the US exporter said in an
email statement last week. contributing to greater emissions because of the
longer distance that gas supplies must travel to
Ireland takes aim at gas reach consumers.
The 4bn cubic metre per year Cork terminal is NextDecade was due to supply gas to Cork
the second planned LNG import project in Ire- from its planned 27mn tonne per year (tpy) Rio
land to be axed. The country’s coalition govern- Grande LNG complex in Texas. But the company
ment, established last summer and consisting of insists that the setback at Cork will not affect its
12 Green Party members, later withdrew the 5 ability to take a final investment decision (FID)
bcm per year Shannon LNG import facility from on developing the first two of Rio Grande’s five
a shortlist of projects eligible for EU grants. The trains. The company says it is still on track to take
fate of that project also looks sealed, after the this step this year.
High Court in Ireland in November ruled to Like many LNG exporters, NextDecade is
annul all its development consents. having to navigate increasing environmental
The UK’s Predator Oil & Gas is also advanc- concerns among customers. France’s Engie
Like many ing an FSRU project in Ireland but has insisted pulled out of talks in November to buy LNG
it will not take shale gas supply because of the from Rio Grande after environmentalists put
LNG exporters, latter’s environmental impact. pressure on the French government. According
In addition to blocking LNG imports, the to reports, the government’s main concern was
NextDecade Irish government has also taken aim at domestic the life cycle of the methane content of gas pro-

is having gas supply. It vowed in July last year to stop issu- duced in West Texas and New Mexico.
NextDecade was also hoping to deliver gas to
ing any new licences for gas exploration and pro-
to navigate duction. That followed the former government’s the Shannon LNG terminal.
The US exporter has responded to the chang-
2019 ban on issuing new oil licences.
increasing Ireland covers over half of its gas needs with ing considerations of its would-be buyers by
environmental supply from the Corrib gas field and several announcing plans in October last year to make
smaller deposits. But these fields have been Rio Grande operate with net-zero emissions.
concerns among producing for decades and are now mature. As Reductions will mainly be achieved using car-
a result, Ireland has been getting an increasing bon, capture and storage (CCS) technology, it
customers. share of its gas from the UK. Decommission- said.
“We are targeting carbon neutrality at Rio
ing began in November last year at the Kinsale
fields, once the bedrock of Ireland’s domestic gas Grande LNG with the use of carbon capture
supply. and storage,” NextDecade said in its state-
The Irish oil and gas industry has criticised ment. “And we believe that, in partnership
the current policy direction, warning it will leave with certain US producers who supply gas to
the country more dependent on energy imports. Rio Grande LNG, we will be able to supply our
Not only will this increase costs and pose a customers LNG with some of the lowest green-
risk to energy security, but Ireland will also be house gas [GHG] intensity.”™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 21•January•2021