Page 9 - GLNG Week 18

GLNG AMERICAS GLNG
Freeport LNG Train 3 enters service
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
THE third train at the Freeport LNG export terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast has entered commercial service, the engineering, procure- ment and construction (EPC) contractors on the project have announced. In a May 4 statement, McDermott International, Chiyoda Interna- tional and Zachry Group said start-up of Train 3 had brought their joint venture project to completion.
Zachry, as the joint venture lead, partnered with McDermott for the pre-front-end engineer- ing and design (pre-FEED) work on the project in 2011. The two companies subsequently part- nered on FEED works for Trains 1 and 2, with Chiyoda later joining the partnership for work related to Train 3.
The project scope includes three pre-treat- ment trains, a liquefaction facility with three trains, a second loading berth and a 165,000 cubic metre full containment LNG storage tank. The three liquefaction trains have a combined capacity of 15mn tonnes per year (tpy).
In a separate statement, privately owned Free- port LNG said the start-up of Train 3 kicks off liquefaction services to France’s Total and South Korea’s SK E&S under their tolling agreements with the LNG exporter.
Construction on the $13.5bn liquefaction plant has been under way since 2014, with some delays along the way, including in relation to Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Train 1 entered ser- vice in December 2019, with Train 2 following in January.
Freeport LNG has the second-largest lique- faction capacity in the US, noted the company, and will process more than 2% of the country’s total natural gas production. The facility also incorporates the largest electric motor-driven refrigeration compressors in the world, and Freeport has touted the benefits of electric LNG (eLNG). The company says the electric motor drive it selected for the plant minimises air emis- sions, as well as ensuring efficiency while offer- ing longer maintenance intervals. Three General Electric 75-MW motors drive the propane and mixed-refrigerant compressors.
The start-up of Train 3 comes at a challenging time for the LNG industry, however, as it grapples with a global oversupply and depressed demand. As of late April, up to 25 cargoes for June loading from US export terminals were reported to have been cancelled by buyers, including around five from Freeport.
The company has not commented on the matter.™
Regulator issues Texas LNG permit with stricter than usual standards
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Texas LNG is one of three export terminals proposed for the Port of Brownsville.
TEXAS LNG has received a state permit for its proposed export terminal at the Port of Browns- ville in South Texas, with stricter air pollution standards than normally expected for the region. However, this is not the only LNG facility in the state that the Texas Commission on Environ- mental Quality (TCEQ) requires to have stricter air pollution standards. The tougher standards also apply to the operational Freeport LNG ter- minal south of Houston, as well as the proposed Rio Grande LNG project, which would also be built at the Port of Brownsville.
The TCEQ air pollution permit authorises Texas LNG to build its proposed export terminal and produce up to 4mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG, but imposes tougher rules than normal on the project’s hot oil heater and oxidisers. Texas LNG has agreed to the tougher standards.
Texas LNG and Rio Grande LNG, along with the Annova LNG project, which has also been proposed for the same area at the Port of Brownsville, have been in the spotlight owing to local concerns about their impact on the envi- ronment and wildlife. However, regulators have
found that the risks of the projects can be mit- igated. The projects could yet find themselves delayed if litigation against them is successful, but the projects’ developers have been trying to demonstrate that they are taking sufficient steps to minimise the environmental impact of their planned facilities.
“Texas LNG is committed to operating in an environmentally responsible manner, including use of electric motors instead of conventional gas turbine compressors to minimise air emissions, making the facility one of the world’s cleanest LNG liquefaction plants,” Texas LNG’s chief oper- ating officer, Langtry Meyer, said in a statement.
Texas LNG touts the strengths of its project as including access to low-cost, abundant feed gas from the Permian Basin, as well as the use of third-party pipeline infrastructure, a modular construction design and a “transparent, compet- itive” pricing structure. However, the project is inching forward as the world grapples with an oversupply of LNG that may deter developers from making final investment decisions (FIDs) on new liquefaction capacity anytime soon.™
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