Freeport LNG supply header, compression trains advance

Sept. 11, 2014
Gulf South Pipeline Co. LP, a subsidiary of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP has reached 20-year firm precedent agreements with foundation shippers to transport about 1.4 bcfd of natural gas on its Coastal Bend Header for the first two trains of Freeport LNG Development LP’s planned liquefaction plant, near Freeport, Tex.

Gulf South Pipeline Co. LP, a subsidiary of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP has reached 20-year firm precedent agreements with foundation shippers to transport about 1.4 bcfd of natural gas on its Coastal Bend Header for the first two trains of Freeport LNG Development LP’s planned liquefaction plant, near Freeport, Tex. Freeport LNG has received its final order for development of the liquefaction terminal from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and anticipates receiving FERC’s authorization to begins construction in the near future.

Gulf South plans to build the roughly 65-mile supply header to serve the liquefaction terminal and expand and modify existing lines to provide access to additional supplies. The company expects Coastal Bend to enter service in 2018, pending customary approvals and a final investment decision by Freeport LNG.

Gulf South says shippers on the header will be able to source supplies from several third-party pipelines directly connected to the header and access regional storage sites. It anticipates supplies from the Eagle Ford, Barnett, Haynesville, Cana-Woodford, Fayatteville, Marcellus, and Utica shales to move through the header and for its Perryville exchange to become a “meaningful” market hub.

The company is holding a binding open season to solicit bids for capacity in excess of the foundation shippers’ contracted volumes for both the new supply header and expansion of its legacy system. The open season closes Oct. 10, 2014.

Freeport LNG selected GE Oil & Gas to provide the plant’s first two liquefaction trains. The two 4.4-million tonne/year trains will use integrated equipment including six centrifugal compressors, six 75-Mw synchronous electric motors, and six variable-speed drives. GE describes the plant as the first world-scale electric LNG plant in North America, drawing power directly from incoming utility lines at transmission voltage. The company expects to deliver the fully assembled trains in 2016 and have them fully operational by 2017.

The US Department of Energy last year conditionally approved 0.4 bcfd of additional non-free trade agreement exports by Freeport LNG, bringing total permitted volumes to 1.8 bcfd (OGJ Online, Nov. 15, 2013). The company has tolling agreements in place for its first three trains, with Chubu Electric and Osaka Gas supplied by Train 1; BP Energy Co., Train 2; and Toshiba Corp. and SK E&S, Train 3.