Page 6 - GLNG Week 04 2022

GLNG AFRICA GLNG

Tanzania hopes new legal advisor will

assist with signing of HGA on LNG project

POLICY TANZANIA’S government remains eager to schedule; partly because of commercial dis-
sign a host government agreement (HGA) on putes between the companies and the gov-
the Tanzania LNG project by April and hopes ernment, partly because Tanzanian President
that the hiring of a legal advisor will help move Samia Suluhu Hassan’s predecessor, John Magu-
the deal forward, Energy Minister January fuli, made the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline
Makamba said on January 25. (EACOP) project a higher priority.
Makamba was making an announcement However, Suluhu and her administration
on the retention of Baker Botts, a prominent US have been working to restart talks on Tanzania
law firm, as legal advisor for talks on the LNG LNG, and Makamba confirmed last November
project. Speaking in the city of Arusha, he noted that negotiations were once again underway
that the London office of Baker Botts had just with Equinor and Shell. Meanwhile, state-owned
signed a deal with Tanzania Petroleum Develop- TPDC said it hoped to see work on Tanzania
ment Corp. (TPDC), the national oil company LNG begin in 2023 and finish in 2028.
(NOC). According to previous reports, the scheme
He did not disclose the terms of the agree- will involve constructing a gas liquefaction plant
ment. However, Makamba did indicate that the at Lindi, in the southern part of the country. This
law firm would advise TPDC on the technical, facility will handle output from three deepwa-
legal and commercial aspects of the proposed ter offshore sites containing about 35 trillion
HGA. cubic feet (991bn cubic metres) of gas – Block 2,
Tanzania’s government began discussing assigned to Equinor, and Blocks 1 and 4, assigned
the Tanzania LNG scheme with Shell (UK) to Shell. It will have two production trains with a
and Equinor (Norway) more than seven years capacity of 5mn tonnes per year (tpy) each. The
ago. However, the project has run far behind total cost of the project may reach $30bn.™

AMERICAS

Cameron LNG downsizes expansion plan

PROJECTS & US-BASED Sempra Energy and its partners intends to replace its primary gas-driven tur-
COMPANIES have downsized its plans for the expansion of bines at Train 4 with e-drive compression tech-
their Cameron LNG export terminal in Louisi- nology, similar to what is deployed at Freeport
ana. Along with majority owner Sempra Infra- LNG, elsewhere on the US Gulf Coast.
structure, the Cameron LNG project includes The companies estimate that this would
Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi, TotalEnergies and reduce on-site emissions from Train 4 by 44%
NYK Line. compared with the previous design. Including
In a filing with the US Federal Energy Reg- offsite emissions from purchased power used to
ulatory Commission (FERC) last week, the run the train, they estimate that their new design
Cameron LNG partners proposed an expan- for Train 4 would reduce emissions by around
sion involving one 6.75mn tonne per year (tpy) 13% compared with their original plan.
train. This marks a scaling down from a previous Cameron’s three existing trains have the
expansion plan involving two trains with a com- capacity to produce a combined 13.5mn tpy.
bined capacity of 10mn tpy. Plans for a proposed The proposed amendment is not surprising,
fifth LNG storage tank would also be scrapped as with Sempra saying in June 2021 that the scope of
a result of the amended expansion. the Cameron LNG expansion could be reduced.
The two-train expansion had been approved The company also backed away from its proposed
by the FERC in 2016. However, the project Port Arthur LNG terminal in Texas, saying it
partners now estimate that the regulator could would prioritise the expansion of Cameron LNG.
approve the permit amendment by January Sempra said last year that it was pushing
2023, which would allow construction to begin back a final investment decision (FID) on Port
by April of that year. Arthur to 2022. It also indicated in late 2021
The companies anticipate that the proposed that a second planned LNG terminal in Mexico,
design changes will lower the greenhouse gas Topolobampo, had potential to jump ahead of
(GHG) emissions associated with the project Port Arthur in its queue of LNG projects that are
while boosting the expansion’s reliability. It yet to be developed.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 28•January•2022