US Cameron LNG Work 'To Resume Next Week', After Storm
Sempra LNG & Midstream, the arm of US utility Sempra Energy that is constructing the joint venture Cameron LNG export project in Louisiana, said it expects building work there to resume next week.
Cameron LNG is jointly owned by Sempra LNG & Midstream, France's Engie, Japan's Mitsui, and the Japan LNG Investment joint venture of Japanese partners Mitsubishi Corp and shipowner NYK Lines. The $10bn project – at what was originally an LNG import terminal near Hackberry, Louisiana – will comprise three liquefaction trains each of 4.5mn mt/yr capacity (totaling 13.5mn mt/yr). Sempra expects all three to be in operation in 2019. It has also begun a filing process to add two more, each with 4.985mn mt/yr capacity.
Sempra said September 1 that the Cameron Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness lifted its Mandatory Order of Evacuation on August 30, and that Cameron LNG's contractor, a joint venture between Chicago Bridge and Iron and Japan’s Chiyoda (CCJV), arrived in the morning of August 31 to assess the site and indicated no significant damage during its preliminary inspection. CCJV would continue their assessment over the next few days, added Sempra: “We anticipate construction activities to resume next week when the site re-opens on September 5.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Texas and Louisiana that have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey. We continue to monitor the situation and support our Texas and Louisiana employees, their families and their safety during this difficult time,” added Sempra.
Cheniere had previously said its Sabine Pass LNG export facility, and Corpus Christi project under construction, escaped material damage.
Natgas prices ease, output down
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Natural Gas Weekly Update August 31 that natural gas spot prices fell at most locations during the week covered by its report (August 23 to 30) and that the US Henry Hub spot price fell from $2.92/mn Btu to $2.86/mn Btu over that period.
Tropical storm Harvey affected both offshore (down by 0.6bn ft3/d August 30) and onshore (down by 3bn ft3/d August 26) natural gas production, as well as demand in the US Gulf Coast region, it noted.
It said the Enterprise Products Partners’ Shoup gas processing facility near Corpus Christi was shut down; Kinder Morgan declared force majeure on Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America’s Louisiana line near Cameron Parish, Louisiana; and Southern Company Gas declared a force majeure on its Golden Triangle Storage natural gas storage facility near Beaumont, Texas.
But electricity generators in the region have had fewer consumers to supply, as a result of Storm Harvey, with many industrial plants still closed.
US Energy Dept’s Office of Infrastructure Security & Energy Restoration said 4pm Eastern Daylight Time on August 31 that, two hours earlier, Texas estimated that 186,969 customers (1.6% of the state) and Louisiana estimated 9,116 customers (less than 1%) were without power.
It also provided latest estimates for shut-in production, as at 12.30pm August 31, 568.09mn ft³/d shut in offshore US Gulf (down from 611.09mn ft³/d the previous day).
Some 3bn ft3/d of gas production onshore Texas, in the Eagle Ford shale area, were shut-in as at August 26 from a pre-storm production estimate of about 6bn ft3/d, according to the Texas Railroad Commission; it had expected most idled production to come back online in the next few days.
Mark Smedley