Hydrocarbon Processing - June 2021 - GP-8

GAS PROCESSING NEWS
A. BLUME, Editor-in-Chief
Occidental unit
to transport
CO2
from Texas
LNG project
Oxy Low Carbon Ventures,
a subsidiary of Occidental
Petroleum, will offtake and
store the CO2
captured from
NextDecade Corp.'s planned
Rio Grande LNG export plant at
the Port of Brownsville, Texas.
Oxy will move CO2
from the
Rio Grande LNG project and
permanently sequester it in an
underground geologic formation
in the Rio Grande Valley.
NextDecade expects the
carbon-capture-and-storage
(CCS) project at Rio Grande to
reduce permitted CO2
emissions
at the plant by more than 90%.
The company also anticipates
achieving a final investment
decision (FID) on a minimum of
two trains at Rio Grande LNG in
2021 and the CCS project soon
after the FID is taken on the plant.
Rio Grande is one of 14
North American projects
awaiting FID in 2021. Most of
the FIDs were carried over
from 2020, postponed by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Another
project at Brownsville, Annova
LNG, decided in March to halt
development of its proposed LNG
export terminal due to changes in
the global LNG market.
Woodfibre LNG
signs second BP
deal for LNG plant
Canadian LNG developer
Woodfibre LNG has signed a
second agreement to sell LNG
from its proposed export plant
in British Columbia to a unit of
oil major BP. That puts the plant
a step closer to getting built in
a market that has seen some
cancellations in recent months,
but not many new projects.
Woodfibre will sell 0.75 MMtpy
of LNG to BP Gas Marketing Ltd.
over 15 yr on a FOB basis. The
agreement will increase BP's total
LNG offtake to 1.5 MMtpy from
Woodfibre's proposed 2.1-MMtpy
plant. Woodfibre could take a final
investment decision in 2021, which
would put the plant on track to
produce first LNG in 2025 at a
cost of around C$1.6 B-C$1.8 B.
Over the past two months,
Annova, another LNG developer,
stopped work on its export
plant in Brownsville, Texas, and
Pembina paused development of
its Jordan Cove project in Oregon.
Cheniere, Shell deliver
carbon-neutral LNG to Europe
U.S. LNG company Cheniere Energy supplied a carbon-neutral
cargo of LNG to Royal Dutch Shell as part of a long-term agreement,
joining a list of sellers neutralizing emissions as more buyers commit
to environmental targets. The carbon-neutral LNG cargo was supplied
from Cheniere's Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana and delivered to
Europe in early April, with offsets bought from Shell's global portfolio
of nature-based projects.
Consumers are increasingly paying a premium to have emissions
neutralized from the wellhead through consumption. In March, Russian
energy giant Gazprom said it had delivered its first carbon-neutral
shipment to Europe. Pavilion signed a long-term contract with
Chevron Corp. earlier this year and one with Qatar Petroleum in late
2020 requesting data on greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, China
National Offshore Oil Corp. bought from Shell its first cargoes with
offset carbon emissions.
Cheniere exported a record of 133 cargoes of LNG in Q1, despite
having part of its facilities down for a few days during the winter
storm in February. The company operates five LNG processing units at
its Corpus Christi terminal. A sixth train at Sabine Pass is almost 1 yr
ahead of schedule and could start production before the end of 2021.
8 MAY/JUNE 2021 | GasProcessingNews.com
Sempra likely to delay Texas Port Arthur LNG decision to 2022
U.S. energy company Sempra Energy will likely move its planned final investment decision (FID) on the
Port Arthur LNG export plant in Texas from 2021 to 2022, according to company executives. The Port Arthur
project is one of 13 North American LNG export projects that was expected to take an FID in 2021. Most of
those were carried over from 2020, and several were also carried over from 2019.
In addition to Port Arthur, Sempra, which owns part of the operating Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana,
is building an export plant at its Costa Azul LNG import facility in Mexico and is developing second phases
for Cameron and Costa Azul.
Global LNG demand has increased every year since 2012 and hit record highs every year since 2015,
mostly due to fast-rising demand in Asia. However, in recent years, global gas buyers have been slow to
sign new long-term contracts needed to finance the multibillion-dollar projects due to overbuilding of LNG
export terminals in 2019, COVID-19 demand destruction and the collapse of global natural gas prices in
2020, as well as the U.S.-China trade war during former U.S. President Trump's administration.
Analysts expect global LNG demand to grow by about 3%-5% each year between 2021 and 2025. That
projected growth rate, however, is much lower than the 11%-12% yearly increases seen from 2017-2019.
Total presses ahead
with Papua LNG,
sees 2023 decision
French energy group Total
has agreed with the Papua New
Guinea government to proceed
with an LNG project in the
country, which had been delayed
due to the pandemic, with a final
investment decision due in 2023.
Total added in a statement
that it would re-mobilize teams
involved in the project. Total and
its partners, ExxonMobil Corp.
and Oil Search Ltd., had initially
planned to develop Papua LNG
in tandem with an expansion of
ExxonMobil's PNG LNG terminal
in a $13-B project adding three
new production units at the
PNG LNG plant, to help save
billions of dollars.
However, Exxon has not agreed
to terms sought by the Papua
New Guinea government for the
P'nyang gas development that
would help feed the expansion, as
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister
James Marape pushed for bigger
benefits for the country from the
deal. Instead, Total's Papua LNG
project will go ahead with two
new production units to be built
at the PNG LNG site, fed by the
Elk Antelope gas fields.

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Hydrocarbon Processing - June 2021

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