Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 13 2022

NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil

Tellurian starts construction

on Driftwood LNG

LOUISIANA US-BASED Tellurian announced on March required for construction and operation, Tellu-
28 that it had kicked off construction on its rian said, and has progressed detailed engineer-
Driftwood LNG terminal on Louisiana’s Gulf ing to around 30% complete.
Coast. The company had previously said it would
The company has issued engineering, pro- begin construction of the project in April –
curement and construction (EPC) contractor noting that this could begin before financing
Bechtel with a limited notice to proceed. Bech- for the facility had been finalised. This has now
tel’s first activities will include demolition, civil been confirmed to be the case. A slightly earli-
site preparation and construction of critical er-than-expected start to construction comes as
foundations. Baker Hughes will manufacture Europe seeks to urgently reduce its dependence
two of the natural gas turbines required for Drift- on Russian gas, with US LNG considered a sig-
wood’s first phase. nificant alternative.
Tellurian said Phase One would include “Energy security is a leading concern in many
two LNG plants with a capacity of up to 11mn countries today and the United States must do
tonnes per year (tpy). Each plant is expected to our part to supply LNG to the global market as
have up to four liquefaction trains. When fully quickly as possible,” stated Tellurian’s president
built, Driftwood is expected to have a capacity and CEO, Octávio Simões. “Beginning con-
of 27.6mn tpy. struction now allows Tellurian to deliver upon
Offtake agreements with Gunvor, Vitol and our robust schedule for first LNG in 2026 while
Shell were finalised last year, covering a com- we complete the project financing. We are well
bined 9mn tpy of Driftwood’s output. Tellurian advanced in Driftwood LNG’s detailed engineer-
deemed this to be enough to proceed with the ing and major equipment orders, and we have
first phase of the project. completed all the owners’ projects required for
Driftwood has received all the major permits us to turn the site over to Bechtel.”™

Fire at ExxonMobil’s Montana refinery

shuts down processing units

MONTANA A fire broke out at ExxonMobil’s Billings refinery with authorities,” an ExxonMobil spokesperson
near Lockwood, Montana on March 26, forcing was quoted by Bloomberg as stating.
several processing units at the plant to be shut The Billings refinery is located in southern
down. The fire began on the evening of March Montana, on the bank of the Yellowstone River. It
26 and multiple crews of firefighters had extin- began operations in 1949 and spans 720 acres (3
guished it overnight within about three hours. square km), of which 370 acres (1.5 square km)
No injuries were reported in the fire, and comprise undeveloped land and urban wildlife
its cause is still under investigation. Witnesses habitat areas.
reported hearing a loud explosion and seeing The facility consists of 18 major processing
smoke and flames rising from the refinery. Local units, and has a processing capacity of about
media reported that the Billings Police Depart- 61,500 barrels per day (bpd) of crude. It pro-
ment had evacuated the area, although no for- duces about 600mn gallons (2.3bn litres) per
mal evacuation order was issued and the region year of gasoline and diesel fuel. Installation of
is sparsely populated. the first fluid coker in the world occurred at the
Several units were shut while ExxonMobil’s refinery in 1954.
crews assessed the scene and stabilised opera- The facility employs more than 270 people, as
tions. As of March 31, it remained unclear how well as around 100 contractors per day, accord-
much damage had been caused to the facility. ing to ExxonMobil’s website.
Air monitoring in the community revealed no Products are distributed from the Billings
adverse readings from the fire. refinery to Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado,
“We are working diligently to better under- South Dakota, Idaho, Washington and Nevada
stand the incident and continue to co-operate as well as Alberta, Canada.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 13 31•March•2022