Page 16 - GLNG Week 33

GLNG AMERICAS GLNG

Midship requests extension to finish pipeline

PIPELINES & MIDSHIP Pipeline, a subsidiary of US LNG estimated to have a total cost of around $1bn.
TRANSPORT exporter Cheniere Energy, has asked the Federal The pipeline’s start-up came at a particularly
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for an challenging time for the LNG market, when
extension until December 2022 to complete its lockdowns related to COVID-19 were hitting
natural gas pipeline. global energy demand particularly hard. Given
The request comes as a result of three com- that cancellations of contracted US LNG car-
pressor stations that were originally sched- goes typically require 45-60 days’ notice, the
uled to be in service by August 13, but have impact on US LNG exporters became increas-
experienced delays. According to Midship, ingly pronounced over the subsequent months.
all the other components of the project except They are now thought to have peaked in June
for the three compressor stations have been and July, with the rate of cancellations starting
completed. to slow in August.
The 200-mile (322-km) pipeline has a Deliveries of feed gas to US LNG terminals
capacity of roughly 1.1bn cubic feet (31.2mn via pipeline also fell, making it easier for pro-
cubic metres) per day, carrying gas from Okla- jects such as Midship to operate below their full
homa’s Anadarko Basin to interconnections capacity. These deliveries are also picking up
with existing pipelines near Bennington, also now, and are estimated to have reached almost
in Oklahoma. From there, the gas can be sent 5 bcf (141.6 mcm) per day on August 20 – the
to the Gulf Coast, where Cheniere operates two highest levels in over two months.
liquefaction terminals. Indeed, 75mn cubic feet Cheniere, as the largest US LNG exporter
(2.1 mcm) per day of capacity on the pipeline with a current liquefaction capacity of around
is booked by Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG 35mn tonnes per year (tpy) and more under
export terminal in Texas. construction, stands to be particularly affected
Midship entered service in April 2020. It is by US LNG export trends.™

ASIA

Report: Green energy could reduce

Asian LNG emissions by 8%

ENERGY USING renewable energy to operate LNG pro- generate electricity to power the plant. Replacing
TRANSITION duction plants across the Asia-Pacific region these gas turbines with electricity could greatly
could reduce emissions by about 8%, according reduce emissions, assuming the grid power
to analysis by Wood Mackenzie. is less carbon intensive. The other option is to
The region produces over a third of the install on-site renewable power.
world’s LNG, while generating 50mn tonnes per “Our analysis shows that installing renewa-
year (tpy) of carbon dioxide equivalent of emis- ble energy generation could reduce emissions at
sions during liquefaction. Asia Pacific’s LNG plants by 8% in 2020 alone,”
Australian LNG projects account for over Taylor added.
half, or 29 MtCO2e, of liquefaction emissions Taylor said: “A carbon tax is likely to be the
from LNG projects in the Asia-Pacific. biggest driver for LNG projects to switch to
Many of the region’s LNG facilities are located renewable energy at the plant or deploy carbon
in remote areas, far from the power grid, so feed- capture and storage [CCS] to reduce emissions
gas is used to generate electricity to run the plant from upstream gas, or both.
and fuel the liquefaction process. “Using less feedgas as a fuel would result in
Typically, 8% to 12% of feedgas is consumed more gas being available to supply either the
at the plant to run these processes. domestic market or be converted into LNG for
Wood Mackenzie senior specialist Jamie exports.
Taylor said: “Three main decarbonisation “In APLNG, for example, installing 60 MW
levers could help reduce emissions at LNG of solar in 2020 at a cost of $60mn increases the
plants, namely operational efficiency, design remaining value of the project by $62mn.
changes and the use of renewable energy, “This is due to the additional revenues gener-
which could be sourced from the grid or gen- ated from selling the ‘saved’ feedgas. The relative
erated on-site.” benefits of installing solar are increased further
Feedgas is used to fuel gas turbines to when a carbon tax is considered.”™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 21•August•2020