Page 14 - NorthAmOil Week 50 2020
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NorthAmOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT NorthAmOil
Another step forward for New
Jersey LNG-by-rail project
US NORTHEAST THE Delaware River Basin Commission The governor of New York abstained.
(DRBC) voted last week to approve a permit for The DRBC approval comes after the adminis-
construction of Delaware River Partners’ LNG tration of US President Donald Trump published
export terminal in Gibbstown, New Jersey. new rules earlier this year allowing shipments
The project would entail LNG being shipped by of LNG by rail. Environmental groups oppose
truck or rail to the Gibbstown terminal from a plant LNG-by-rail on safety grounds, arguing that
that Delaware River Partners’ parent company, potential leaks could be hazardous, and pose a
New Fortress Energy, is developing in Pennsylvania risk of explosions that could endanger lives. This
to liquefy natural gas produced from the Marcellus is also one of the reasons for environmental and
shale. The LNG would be exported to customers in local opposition to New Fortress’ LNG export
the Caribbean, among other destinations. plan, which entails transporting the super-chilled
It is currently unknown when New Fortress fuel over a distance of about 200 miles (322 km)
will make a final investment decision (FID) on from Wyalusing, Pennsylvania to Gibbstown.
the Pennsylvania liquefaction plant. However, Indeed, the Sierra Club, an environmental
federal filings show that the company had spent organisation, released a statement following the
about $165mn on developing the facility by the DRBC approval, saying it would continue to fight
end of 2019. against the project going ahead.
Four of the commissioners on the DRBC – The DBRC said it does not consider the cargo
which consists of the governors of Pennsylvania, – just the impact on water resources from con-
New York, New Jersey and Delaware, as well as a struction of the dock and dredging that would
representative from the US Army Corps of Engi- be required for the Gibbstown export terminal.
neers – voted to approve the Gibbstown project. There is already another dock at Gibbstown.
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Calcasieu Pass LNG construction
ahead of schedule
LOUISIANA CONSTRUCTION on Venture Global LNG’s procurement and construction (EPC) contract
Calcasieu Pass export terminal is reported to for the first 10mn tpy phase of Plaquemines
be ahead of schedule, while the company antici- LNG.
pates cargoes for a second project to be fully con- According to Sabel, Venture Global’s modu-
tracted by the middle of 2021. lar approach to construction has allowed Calca-
Venture Global’s CEO, Mike Sabel, told sieu Pass to proceed ahead of schedule despite
Bloomberg TV this week that six out of 18 lique- the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and a
faction trains were expected to be installed at the particularly disruptive hurricane season on the
Calcasieu Pass site on the Louisiana Gulf Coast Gulf Coast. Two of the Calcasieu Pass trains have
by mid-February 2021. Commercial operations already been installed, and two more are on their
are anticipated to start up in 2022. way. Sabel said the modular approach had low-
Sabel added that the first phase of the pro- ered construction costs by 40% and proved to be
posed Plaquemines LNG would be fully con- a “massive mitigation to construction risk” dur-
tracted by the end of June 2021. Plaquemines ing the hurricane season.
LNG would eventually be double the size of “If we had not pushed that fabrication into
Calcasieu Pass, at 20mn tonnes per year of liq- the factory, those raw materials would have been
uefaction capacity consisting of up to 36 trains, spread around our site,” he said.
each with a capacity of 626,000 tpy. The trains at Venture Global aims to make a final invest-
Calcasieu Pass have the same capacity, but that ment decision (FID) on Plaquemines LNG in
project will only have a total capacity of 10mn 2021. While this has been pushed back from
tpy. an original target date of 2020, Sabel expressed
Baker Hughes is manufacturing the trains confidence that demand was already rebounding
for Calcasieu Pass in Italy before shipping them from the worst of the pandemic, and that Ven-
to the Gulf Coast for installation. Meanwhile, ture Global’s low costs would give it a competi-
KBR was recently awarded the engineering, tive advantage as it seeks more customers.
P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 50 17•December•2020
