Page 11 - GLNG Week 38

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Excelerate plans small-scale LNG plant in Argentina
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
US-BASED Excelerate is moving forward with plans to establish a small-scale LNG export com- plex in Argentina, a company representative said last week.
According to Gabriela Aguilar, Excelerate’s vice-president for South America and country manager for Argentina, the company is conduct- ing a technical evaluation of the project, which would involve the construction of a gas lique- faction plant and LNG export terminal in Bahia Blanca. Discussions are under way with potential suppliers of gas for the plant and with potential buyers of Argentinian LNG, she told the Telam news agency.
Excelerate is currently reviewing its options for financing the project, which is likely to carry a price tag of $1.6bn, Aguilar said. She also stated that the company was holding these talks and carrying out the study with the aim of making an assessment of the project’s feasibility by mid- 2020. If the company then makes a final invest- ment decision (FID) in late 2020, it should be able to launch LNG exports by 2022 or 2023, she said.
If built, she said, Excelerate will use at least one of the modular units to build the gas liquefaction
facility in Bahia Blanca. The first unit will be able to handle 4mn cubic metres per day of gas, she stated, and Excelerate may add three more at a later date in order to raise the plant’s throughput to 16 mcm per day. (These figures indicate that the facility’s initial production capacity would be about 1.08mn tonnes per year of LNG, rising later to as much as 4.32mn tpy.)
Aguilar stressed that Excelerate did not see its small-scale project as a threat to YPF’s plans for setting up its own LNG export complex. The national oil company (NOC) intends to build a much larger plant for a cost of about $5bn and hopes to bring it on stream within four to five years, she said. By then, she remarked, Argen- tina’s Vaca Muerta shale formation will be pro- ducing enough gas to support both the large YPF facility and Excelerate’s modular facility in Bahia Blanca.
“If we take into account the potential devel- opment of Vaca Muerta, we can see that no sin- gle project will be exclusive,” she said. “Rather, they will be able to co-exist ... because as long as there is large-scale development, all options will be on the table in order to achieve the max- imum potential.”™
NextDecade, Enbridge partner on pipeline
PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
LNG developer NextDecade has announced that it has partnered with midstream operator Enbridge to develop the Rio Bravo pipeline pro- ject. The pipeline is designed to support Next- Decade’s proposed Rio Grande LNG export terminal in Brownsville, Texas.
The two companies revealed on September 18 that they had signed a memorandum of under- standing (MoU) to jointly develop the pipeline. They anticipate finalising the terms of the agree- ment during the fourth quarter of this year.
The Rio Bravo pipeline would move natu- ral gas from the Agua Dulce hub near Corpus Christi to the Port of Brownsville, where Nex- tDecade’s LNG plant will be located. It would have a capacity of 4.5bn cubic feet (127mn cubic metres). The pipeline still requires approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) before construction on it can proceed.
NextDecade’s chairman and CEO, Matt Schatzman, noted Enbridge’s experience of oper- ating in the area where the pipeline and LNG plant would be located. “With its Texas Eastern pipeline and recently completed Valley Cross- ing pipeline, Enbridge has extensive permitting, construction and operating experience in the
State of Texas, especially in South Texas,” he said. “Our existing infrastructure fits very well with the Brownsville location,” Enbridge’s pres- ident of gas transmission and midstream, Bill Yardley, commented. “This is a continuation of our strategy to bring our major project execution and permitting capability to the expanding LNG
export efforts in North America.”
NextDecade has said that the 27mn tonne per
year (tpy) Rio Grande LNG would be the largest LNG project linking associated gas output in the Permian Basin to global markets. However, both its pipeline and liquefaction terminal – as well as two other LNG plants proposed for the Port of Brownsville – are facing local opposition on concerns over their cumulative environmental impact when combined with other projects in the area.
Last month, NextDecade pushed back a final investment decision (FID) on Rio Grande LNG to the fourth quarter of this year. The MoU with Enbridge appears to be a step towards this, however.
According to a recent investor presentation, the company still anticipates bringing the termi- nal online in 2023.™
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