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Freeport LNG to resume operations in October

TEXAS A US regulator this week gave approval for Free- the facility’s four liquefaction trains as well as
port LNG to partially resume operations follow- two LNG storage tanks and one loading dock,
ing an explosion and a fire in June. enabling the company to achieve 2bn cubic feet
The operator of the 15mn tonne per year (57mn cubic metres) per day of LNG, just shy
(tpy) facility received consent from the Pipeline of its capacity, and enough to satisfy long-term
and Hazardous Materials Safety Administra- supply deals with customers.
tion (PHMSA), allowing it to return to action While Freeport LNG had anticipated an
in October at almost full capacity, pending the October restart, the speed at which it will resume
implementation of corrective measures. This came as something of a surprise, putting strain
includes providing the PHMSA with weekly on US gas inventories. Brayton Tom, a senior
updates and filing a root cause analysis relating risk manager for energy at StoneX Group, told
to the explosion within three months. Bloomberg: “The partial restart is bigger than
The explosion is reported to have been caused previously expected.”
by excess pressure in a pipeline at the plant at Meanwhile, Energy Aspects analyst David
Quintana, Texas, with the PHMSA saying that Seduski said: “We previously had Freeport only
120,000 cubic feet (3,400 cubic metres) of LNG returning to partial service in November, and the
had been released within the facility. extra feedgas demand that is likely puts longer
The regulator said that Freeport LNG is odds on the bearish side of the market.”
“evaluating and advancing initiatives related to The NYMEX Henry Hub August contract
training, process safety management, operations jumped by more than 7% on the news on
and maintenance procedure improvements, and August 3, though it remained well below the
facility inspections.” recent peak of $8.993 per mmBtu ($248.75 per
October will see the resumption of three of 1,000 cubic metres).™

McDermott, KBR sign ammonia

licensing agreement

GLOBAL ENERGY services specialist McDermott Inter- value to our clients as they scale and accelerate
national announced the signing of a deal this their energy transition initiatives.”
week that will see it provide “integrated solu- The two companies will work together to
tions” for fellow services firm KBR’s proprietary evaluate opportunities to deliver modular “exe-
ammonia technologies. cution concepts” for green and blue ammonia
The two US companies will target the grow- projects.
ing ammonia market by combining KBR’s tech- Significant investments are being made in
nology with McDermott’s “global execution ammonia projects around the world as pro-
capabilities and fabrication and modularisation ducers and developers covet its properties as a
expertise.” hydrogen carrier for transportation.
In a statement accompanying the announce- Given the nascent nature of the sector,
ment, Tareq Kawash, McDermott’s senior vice other options are also being considered, with,
president for onshore, said: “This agreement for example, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.
enables us to offer customers an integrated (ADNOC) signing up to a joint study with
approach for low-carbon ammonia projects Japan’s Mitsui and its biggest refiner ENEOS
by combining KBR’s best-in-class ammonia for the development of a 200,000 tonne per year
technology with our global project delivery (tpy) blue hydrogen supply chain connecting the
know-how, low-carbon execution approach and two countries, leveraging methylcyclohexane
leadership in ammonia storage solutions.” (MCH) as a carrier.
He added: “This technology partnership is Meanwhile, in March last year, a deal was
an important addition to our growing energy agreed that would see South Korea’s Hyundai
transition portfolio and strengthens our con- Oilbank import LPG from Saudi Aramco, which
cept-to-completion capabilities.” would be converted to hydrogen for use in des-
Meanwhile, KBR’s senior vice president for ulphurisation facilities and for fuelling vehicles.
global sales, Aman Ahmad, said: “This agree- The Korean company will capture the emitted
ment will enable KBR and McDermott to lever- CO2 and re-export it back to Aramco for use in
age each other’s strengths to deliver exceptional enhanced oil recovery (EOR).™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 31 04•August•2022