Page 27 - NorthAmOil Annual Review 2021
P. 27
NorthAmOil DECEMBER NorthAmOil
Cheniere is expected to
take an FID on Corpus
Christi LNG Stage 3 in
2022.
it says construction has already begun. Also in to previously signed contracts, these meant the
the pipeline is Delta LNG, another 20mn tpy commercialisation of Corpus Christi Stage 3
project, though that scheme is currently under- was “close to completion”.
going FERC review, and little more has been Not all US LNG developers have had as
said about it to date. much success as Venture Global and Cheniere
The 10mn tpy Calcasieu Pass, together with in advancing their plans, though. In Decem-
Plaquemines and CP2, would bring Venture ber, Pembina Pipeline formally abandoned the
Global’s total investment in Louisiana LNG Jordan Cove LNG project, which had been pro-
projects to more than $20bn, Venture Global posed for Oregon’s Pacific Coast.
said. The company had already paused develop-
Analysts have estimated that Calcasieu Pass ment of Jordan Cove in April after failing to
cost about $4.5bn to build, and Venture Global secure state permits for the project, so its can-
is taking a modular approach to its liquefaction cellation came as no surprise. However, its fate
projects, with each 626,000 tpy liquefaction illustrates that building projects outside the Gulf
module fabricated offsite and delivered fully Coast can be challenging. And even on parts of
assembled. The company, which is the newest the Gulf Coast, such as at the Port of Brownsville
entrant into the US LNG industry, touts this in Texas, developers have struggled to move for- The US’
method as allowing it to build its terminals more ward with their plans, and one of three proposed
quickly and with less risk than traditional LNG projects has already been scrapped. liquefaction
projects. Indeed, Calcasieu Pass is coming online capacity
ahead of its original schedule, though it is yet to What next?
demonstrate its ability to operate smoothly. The US’ liquefaction capacity dominance will dominance will
Cheniere is also pushing ahead with plans for prove relatively short-lived, given that Qatar’s
its next capacity addition – the Stage 3 expan- North Field expansion – the single largest LNG prove relatively
sion at its Corpus Christi LNG project in Texas. project in the world – is currently under con-
An FID on the expansion, which would involve struction. North Field East will take Qatar’s liq- short-lived.
a shift away from Cheniere’s 5mn tpy trains to uefaction capacity from 77mn tpy to 110mn tpy
mid-scale trains with a combined capacity of by around the end of 2025. Then the North Field
10mn tpy, is anticipated in 2022. However, in South project will bring Qatar’s liquefaction
December, Cheniere asked FERC for an exten- capacity to 126mn tpy.
sion until June 2027 to complete the expansion. Beyond this, there is considerable uncer-
The company cited the coronavirus (COVID- tainty over the role of natural gas and LNG
19) pandemic, saying its onset had slowed com- in the energy mix given the pace at which the
mercial progress on the expansion project, energy transition has accelerated. But given the
delaying FID and the start of construction. gas supply crunch this year, gas may yet have
However, it added that it had signed around more potential than previously expected as
6mn tpy worth of long-term offtake contracts countries try to decarbonise while keeping a
in the past 12 months, saying that in addition lid on energy costs.
Annual Review 2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P27
