Page 9 - AsianOil Week 43 2021

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for the end of 2021. If an FID is reached on time, double the size of Calcasieu Pass, with a capacity
Plaquemines could become the only US LNG of 20mn tpy and up to 36 trains configured in
facility to be sanctioned this year, after several 18 blocks.
other proposals were either shelved or pushed Analyst estimates cited by Reuters put the cost
back to 2022 in recent months. of building Plaquemines at around $8.9bn, com-
pared with roughly $4.5bn for Calcasieu Pass.
Second wave
The imminent start-up of Calcasieu Pass is also What next
significant, as is the first of a second wave of liq- Venture Global’s moves appear to be timely, with
uefaction terminals being built on the US Gulf Calcasieu Pass preparing to start up as gas short-
Coast, after four plants came online in the region ages persist globally and buyers in both Europe
during the first wave, beginning in 2016. and Asia are scrambling to stock up on gas sup-
While new trains have been added to exist- plies before the winter heating season. Gas prices
ing terminals, such as the third train at Cheniere remain high.
Energy’s Corpus Christi LNG, which came Meanwhile, two other US LNG producers on
online earlier this year, no new terminals have the Gulf Coast are struggling to maintain supply.
entered service since 2019. That was the same Last week, Bloomberg cited sources with direct
year that Venture Global announced its FID on knowledge of the matter as saying Freeport LNG
Calcasieu Pass. The company has moved rela- was experiencing a wax build-up in its pipelines
tively rapidly to build the plant, which appears owing to impurities in the gas it receives. Accord-
set to enter service months ahead of its original ing to the sources, this means LNG shipments
schedule. from Freeport, in Texas, would be reduced for
ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy’s Golden Pass the remainder of October, as well as November.
LNG is also under construction in the region, Meanwhile, other sources told the news ser-
and other terminals – including Plaquemines – vice that Train 3 at Cheniere’s Sabine Pass termi-
are thought to be close to an FID. Up to five new nal in Louisiana was down owing to mechanical
projects could be sanctioned over the next few issues, though the situation was reported not to
years, according to consultancy Emverus. be as serious as that at Freeport. However, Free-
Calcasieu Pass will have the capacity to pro- port and Sabine Pass between them account for
duce and export up to 10mn tpy of LNG from more than half of US LNG production, so such
18 trains. The trains, each with a capacity of issues will not help the gas crunch.
626,000 tpy, are configured in nine blocks. Ven- The situation is thought to be adding momen-
ture Global will seek to replicate this approach tum to the push to build additional liquefaction
at Plaquemines – though that plant is set to be capacity on the Gulf Coast and elsewhere.™

Week 43 28•October•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9