New Fortress takes FID on modular liquefaction, advances regas projects

March 17, 2021
New Fortress Energy (NFE) Inc. has taken final investment decision on its 1.4-million tonne/year Fast LNG modular floating liquefaction solution, with the first unit expected to be operational by end-2022.

New Fortress Energy (NFE) Inc. has taken final investment decision on its 1.4-million tonne/year Fast LNG modular floating liquefaction solution, with the first unit expected to be operational by end-2022. Fast LNG, to be built by Fluor Chart Industries Inc. and Baker Hughes Co., will retrofit jack-up rigs or floating production systems with the modular liquefaction trains to increase the efficiency with which currently stranded gas assets can be produced. Each Fast LNG installation would include a separate floating storage unit (FSU).

NFE would use LNG produced by the units to feed its expanding array of regasification terminals. The company expects to start operations at two floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) in Brazil by March 2022. Each terminal will fuel a 1,200-Mw power plant. NFE acquired the terminals in January 2021 as part of its purchase of Hygo Energy Transmission Ltd.

New Fortress bought Golar LNG Partners LP as part of the same transaction. Golar’s 13-vessel fleet will be repurposed as either FSU or FSRU as current contracts expire. In the meantime, NFE is continuing development of Golar’s Suape FSRU-based terminal in Brazil.   

Suape includes a permanently docked 135,000-cu m vessel supplying natural gas to a power plant. The hub will also supply LNG to industrial, residential, and commercial customers, as well as fueling stations. Natural gas will be supplied to end-users via pipeline, while container trucks will distribute an initial 800 cu m/day of LNG within a 1,000-km radius. Smaller LNG vessels will move it to other hubs along the Brazilian coast.

Brazil’s LNG imports increased 17-20% in 2019, according to the US Department of Commerce.

NFE also expects to begin operations at terminals in Mexico and Nicaragua in second-quarter 2021. The onshore Mexico terminal will supply a power plant at Port of Pichilingue, Baja California Sur. The FSRU-based Nicaragua terminal will supply 60 MMcfd of natural gas to a 300-Mw power plant near Puerto Sandino.

The company is also finalizing a framework agreement for a terminal in Southeast Asia that it expects to begin operations in second-half 2021. NFE in 2020 signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. for joint advancement of LNG infrastructure in the country.