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NorthAmOil                                   COMMENTARY                                          NorthAmOil














































                         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 existing  plies before the winter heating season. Gas prices
                         terminals, such as the third train at Cheniere  remain high.              Venture Global’s
                         Energy’s Corpus Christi LNG, which came   Meanwhile, two other US LNG producers
                         online earlier this year, no new terminals have  on the Gulf Coast are struggling to maintain   moves appear to
                         entered service since 2019. That was the same  supply. Last week, Bloomberg cited sources   be timely, with
                         year that Venture Global announced its FID on  with direct knowledge of the matter as saying
                         Calcasieu Pass. The company has moved rela-  Freeport LNG was experiencing a wax build-up   Calcasieu Pass
                         tively rapidly to build the plant, which appears  in its pipelines owing to impurities in the gas it
                         set to enter service months ahead of its original  receives. According to the sources, this means   preparing to
                         schedule.                            LNG shipments from Freeport, in Texas, would
                           ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy’s Golden  be reduced for the remainder of October, as well   start up as gas
                         Pass LNG is also under construction in the  as November.                  shortages persist
                         region, and other terminals – including   Meanwhile, other sources told the news ser-
                         Plaquemines – are thought to be close to an  vice that Train 3 at Cheniere’s Sabine Pass termi-  globally.
                         FID. Up to five new projects could be sanc-  nal in Louisiana was down owing to mechanical
                         tioned over the next few years, according to  issues, though the situation was reported not 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                                              P5
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