Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 35
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NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil
Cheniere approved to start up new train
TEXAS
US LNG export pioneer Cheniere Energy has received regulatory approval this week to bring the second train into commercial service at its Corpus Christi LNG export project on the US Gulf Coast.
In an order issued on August 28, the US Fed- eral Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said Cheniere had shown that the train and asso- ciated facilities had been constructed according to their approved design and standards and could be expected to operate safely. e regu- lator added that it was satis ed with how reha- bilitation and restoration of areas affected by construction of the facility were proceeding.
Cheniere has been ramping up deliveries of feedstock gas to Corpus Christi LNG over the past week. The terminal has been in service since December 2018, when shipments began from the rst train. Each train at the facility has a capacity of 4.5mn tonnes per year of LNG. A third Corpus Christi train is currently under construction, and will bring the plant’s total capacity to 13.5mn tpy when it comes online. Completion of construction on Train 3 is
anticipated during the second half of 2021.
A note from Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said the investment bank expected Cheniere’s volumes to be up by over 50% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2019. e company also brought Train 5 into service at its Sabine Pass export terminal earlier this year. Construction of Train 6 at the facility – the rst LNG export plant in the Lower 48 US states – is underway and the train is due to come online in the rst
half of 2023.
Also this week, Cheniere received a positive
environmental review from the FERC for a proposed expansion of the marine berth infra- structure at Sabine Pass. e expansion pro- ject, which consists of adding a third marine berth and supporting facilities, would allow Cheniere to add 180 LNG cargoes per year from the facility, raising the total to 580 LNG cargoes per year.
e terminal currently has a single marine basin with two vessel berths, each able to accom- modate LNG carriers with capacities of up to 266,000 cubic metres.
Texas storage operator plans IMO- compliant processing facility
TEXAS
TEXAS International Terminals, a Galves- ton-based operator of fuel storage, has con- rmed plans for a crude processing facility that will be compatible with International Maritime Organization (IMO) low-sulphur requirements. Under the rules, which are set to take e ect in 2020, the marine sector will have to slash sul- phur emissions by over 80%, which will result in a switch to lower-sulphur fuels. e IMO 2020 rule limits sulphur content in marine fuel to 0.5%, from 3.5% previously.
Texas International Terminals has said it will produce 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of low-sul- phur fuels that will be compliant with the IMO 2020 rules at its new processing facility. e com- pany will operate its own crude distillation unit (CDU) at a site in Galveston, producing bunker and gasoil for an a liate, GCC Bunkers. e a liate will supply crude and market the unit’s output.
“We expect most of the bunker demand in the Houston and surrounding markets to shi to theIMO2020spec,”aprincipalatGCCBunkers, Mark VandeVoorde, told Reuters. “We anticipate there will be strong demand for the product.”
Construction on the project has already started, and is expected to be completed in early 2020.
Texas International Terminals operates a dry and liquid bulk transportation terminal on the Galveston Ship Channel. e terminal has 325,000 bpd of total storage capacity, as well as permits for the construction of another 1.6mn bpd of capacity. e company told Reuters that it had bunker storage capacity of 50,000 barrels at the plant site, and was intending to add 750,000 barrels of fuel oil storage and 500,000 barrels of gasoil storage.
Texas International Terminals has not dis- closed how much it will invest in the small- scale refinery and storage terminal capacity additions.
e IMO rule change is expected to boost demand for lighter crudes and diesel, as well as prompting re ners on the Gulf Coast to upgrade their facilities in order to process lighter crude better. Larger re ners are also in the process of developing cleaner fuels in order to meet the shipping industry’s need to replace up to 3mn bpd of marine fuel.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 35 03•September•2019
