Page 14 - GLNG Week 32
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GLNG AMERICAS GLNG
Cameron LNG Train 3 starts up
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
SEMPRA Energy announced on August 10 that its Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana had entered full commercial service with the start-up of the third liquefaction train. The company said in a statement that this was the beginning of full run-rate earnings under Cam- eron LNG’s tolling agreements.
The plant, which has a total capacity of 14.95mn tonnes per year (tpy), has exported nearly 100 cargoes of LNG since its first train entered service in August 2019, amounting to more than 6mn tonnes of the super-chilled fuel. The second train began commercial service in February this year.
The terminal cost $10bn to construct, and operations are anticipated to generate nearly $12bn of after-debt service cash flows for Sem- pra during the project’s 20-year contract period.
Sempra indirectly owns 50.2% of Cam- eron LNG. The other partners in the project are affiliates of Total, Mitsui & Co. and Japan LNG Investment – which is jointly owned by Mitsubishi and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kai- sha. In its statement, Sempra also said that the
partners were developing Phase 2 of Cameron LNG, which would add 9.97mn tpy of capacity to the facility through the construction of two more trains.
In January, Sempra asked the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for an extension to build Trains 4 and 5, having initially been given a deadline of May 2020 for bringing them into service. The delay to Phase 2 was partly attributed to a change in the circumstances of one of Sempra’s joint venture partners.
Having previously been targeting mid-2021 for a final investment decision (FID) on Phase 2, Sempra cautioned this week that “there can be no assurance” that Phase 2 of Cameron or any of the other LNG projects it is developing will be completed. This was attributed to the “number of risks and uncertainties” these LNG ventures are currently subject to.
The company did say, however, that Cam- eron LNG’s owners had signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) for 100% of the offtake capacity from Phase 2 with no change in equity ownership.
Chevron ordered to inspect remaining Gorgon trains for damage
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
CHEVRON and its partners in the Gorgon LNG project have been ordered by the government of Western Australia to inspect the propane heat exchangers at Trains 1 and 3 at the 15.6mn tonne per year (tpy) liquefaction terminal. This comes as Train 2 at Gorgon remains offline for repairs, after an inspection of that train’s propane heat exchangers during planned maintenance found weld quality issues and cracks in the equipment. (See GLNG Week 30)
The US-based super-major previously said Train 2 would be returned to service in Septem- ber. But the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has voiced fears that the cracks may not be reparable and may require the heat exchangers to be replaced altogether. This would likely require a longer timeframe.
Western Australia’s Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) said the inspection orders for Trains 1 and 3 had to be carried out before August 21, giving Chevron two weeks.
“The [DMIRS’] Dangerous Goods Direc- torate issued the notice as the nature of the
reported cracking in Train 2 is such that there may be similar defects in Trains 1 and 3,” said the DMIRS’ director of dangerous goods and petro- leum safety, Steve Emery.
This comes after the DMIRS said last month that it would inspect the plant itself in response to the concerns raised by the trade union. On a company earnings call on July 31 – a week before the inspection order was issued – Chevron’s vice-president, Jay Johnson, said the company was in the process of evaluating how to best address Trains 1 and 3. Now, there is additional time pressure.
It is not yet clear whether Chevron may have to shut down the trains in order to carry out the inspection – and effect any necessary repairs – but the order raises the prospect that the whole plant could be shut down. The possibility of a shut-down comes as the LNG market continues to struggle to absorb a global oversupply, which has been exacerbated by the hit to demand from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Indeed, other LNG producers may welcome an outage at Gorgon.
AUSTRALASIA
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 14•August•2020
