Sempra Infrastructure has received US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval of its request for an extension to build Port Arthur Pipeline LLC’s 2-bcfd Texas Connector and Louisiana Connector pipelines. The company now has until Mar. 31, 2023, to submit its implementation plan for the projects, both of which would supply natural gas to its planned 13.5-million tonne/year (tpy) Port Arthur LNG plant in Port Arthur, Tex.
Sempra last year delayed final investment decision (FID) on Port Arthur LNG to 2022, saying it needed production from the plant to be fully contracted before making that decision (OGJ Online, May 7, 2021). Polish Oil & Gas Co. SA had a 2-million tpy agreement for Port Arthur offtake, but it and Sempra modified this in 2021 to 2 million tpy from Sempra’s North American liquefaction plants (OGJ Online, July 28, 2021).
In addition to Port Arthur LNG, Sempra operates 12-million tpy Cameron LNG in Louisiana and is developing the 3.25-million tpy Energia Costa Azul plant on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
NextDecade Corp., meanwhile, has requested a FERC extension to Nov. 22, 2028, to put its planned 27-million tpy Rio Grande LNG plant in Brownsville, Tex., into service. NextDecade ascribed the request to “unforeseeable developments in the global LNG market as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” as had Sempra in its Port Arthur request.
NextDecade earlier this week executed a 20-year sales agreement for 1.5 million tpy of Rio Grande production with ENN LNG (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (OGJ Online, Apr. 7, 2022). The producer had anticipated Train 1 startup as early as 2026.
