Page 12 - AsianOil Week 46 2021

AsianOil EAST ASIA AsianOil

Freeport LNG announces CCS

plan amid news of stake sale

PROJECTS & FREEPORT LNG Development announced this
COMPANIES week that it had executed a letter of intent (LoI)
with Talos Energy to jointly develop a carbon
capture and storage (CCS) facility to serve the
Freeport liquefaction terminal on the Texas Gulf
Coast. The announcement about the FLNG CCS
project came a day after Global Infrastructure
Partners (GIP) said that it was selling its 25.7%
stake in Freeport to Japan’s JERA for $2.5bn.
The FLNG CCS project would use a nearby
Freeport-owned geological sequestration site
with up to a 30-year injection term to perma-
nently sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from
the liquefaction project. The scheme is subject
to the finalisation of definitive agreements, but if
it proceeds as planned, the companies anticipate
first CO2 injection occurring by the end of 2024.
Talos will be the project manager and oper-
ator and will be joined by its partner, Storegga Stakes change hands
Geotechnologies. JERA is the world’s largest buyer of LNG and
The announcement comes as a growing already owns a 25% interest in Train 1 at Freeport
number of existing and proposed LNG plants and purchases and transports 2.32mn tonnes
on the US Gulf Coast are starting to look to CCS per year (tpy) of LNG for use in Japan and other
to decarbonise their operations. In the neigh- countries that import the fuel. It said in a state-
bouring state of Louisiana, Venture Global LNG ment that its acquisition of the Freeport stake
is planning to build a CCS facility to capture would expand its involvement in the project to
emissions from its newly built Calcasieu Pass cover all three trains at the plant, which produce
terminal, as well as its proposed Plaquemines a combined 15mn tpy of LNG. JERA added that
plant. And in Texas, NextDecade is proposing it would work with the consortium that operates
to capture around 90% of the emissions from its Freeport to advance new LNG schemes, includ-
planned Rio Grande LNG terminal, primarily ing a potential fourth train at the terminal.
using CCS. Rio Grande has further legal and The transaction comes as buyers in Europe
regulatory hurdles to overcome before it can be and Asia compete to secure new LNG volumes
built, though, so the race is on between Freeport amid a supply crunch that threatens to worsen if
and Venture Global to become the first US LNG temperatures this winter are colder than normal.
operator to bring a CCS facility online on the “Securing a stable supply of LNG is becom-
Gulf Coast. ing increasingly important as we witness sharp
In June, Venture Global’s CEO, Michael price increases around the world,” stated JERA
Sabel, said his company could proceed with Americas’ CEO, Steven Winn. “We will lever-
construction of its CCS facility as soon as it has age the knowledge and expertise accumulated
the required permits, with no new technology or through JERA’s global LNG value chain business
outside funding required. and power plant operations as we work together
with Freeport on its various businesses to meet
the growing demand for electricity in Asian
countries and help facilitate the transition from
coal to lower-emission transitional fuel LNG.”
GIP, for its part, is turning its attention to
LNG developments elsewhere in the world. A
day after the Freeport stake sale was announced,
the private equity firm said it had agreed to buy
a 49% stake in the Pluto Train 2 joint venture in
Australia from Woodside Petroleum. The Pluto
LNG expansion, which is estimated to cost
$5.6bn, will underpin the Scarborough project.
GIP said in a statement that in addition to shoul-
dering 49% of the capital expenditures for Pluto
Train 2, it would fund roughly $835mn of addi-
tional construction spending.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 19•November•2021