Page 10 - GLNG Week 48 2022

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

Next wave of US LNG

projects advances

COMMENTARY The next wave of US liquefaction capacity is construction (EPC) contract for the Port Arthur
making advances, with several announcements project with Bechtel Energy. The price of the
relating to particular projects being made in amended contract is around $10.5bn.
recent weeks. Some projects are already under Then on November 22, Sempra Infrastruc-
construction, with ExxonMobil and QatarEner- ture formed a partnership with ConocoPhillips,
gy’s Golden Pass LNG at a particularly advanced including a 20-year sale and purchase agreement
stage and on track to enter service in 2024. Ven- (SPA) for 5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG
ture Global LNG – which is known for bringing from Port Arthur, as well as a 30% equity stake
its Calcasieu Pass terminal online in a record 29 in the first phase of the project.
months – is now racing to bring its second pro- The deal takes Sempra a step closer to an
ject, Plaquemines LNG, online by 2024 as well. FID on Phase 1 of Port Arthur LNG, which the
Other projects have yet to reach the final company is targeting for the first quarter of 2023.
investment decision (FID) stage, but received a This represents something for a turnaround for
major boost this year following Russia’s invasion the project after it suffered a series of setbacks,
of Ukraine and Europe’s resulting pivot away including the expiration in 2021 of a preliminary
from imports of Russian gas. European countries agreement with Saudi Aramco, which would
have turned their attention to alternative sources have also entailed a mix of offtake and equity.
of natural gas, and LNG developers on the Gulf Additionally, Poland’s PGNiG terminated its
Coast are reaping the benefits. SPA with Sempra for offtake from Port Arthur
As a result, projects that were previously con- last year, citing delays in the project’s schedule.
sidered to have a challenging path towards FID PGNiG said it would reallocate the volumes to
have been picking up momentum, and this can other projects in Sempra’s portfolio – which also
be seen in recent announcements related to Gulf includes the Cameron LNG terminal in Loui-
Coast LNG developments. siana and the Energía Costa Azul (ECA) LNG
facility under construction in Mexico.
Momentum However, PGNiG has since signed a new
Progress is particularly notable for Sempra’s heads of agreement (HoA) with Sempra, paving
planned Port Arthur LNG project in Texas. In the way for a new SPA under which it would buy
late October, the company’s Sempra Infrastruc- 1mn tpy of LNG from Port Arthur and 2mn tpy
ture subsidiary said it had amended and restated from a proposed expansion of Cameron LNG.
the fixed-price engineering, procurement and This seems to indicate a new confidence in

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 01•December•2022