Norwest Energy acquires equity in new eLNG plant for Port Hedland

Norwest Energy Ltd., Perth, has acquired a 20% interest in Pilbara Clean Fuels Pty Ltd. (PCF), a company developing an electrified LNG (eLNG) plant at Port Hedland on the Pilbara coast of Western Australia.

Norwest will invest $300,000 (Aus.) to fund an initial 6-month assessment program designed to progress the project towards definition of technical and commercial options.

PCF has entered a development partnership with Technip Energies and selected Air Products Inc. as the preferred liquefaction technology licensor and core equipment supplier.

Norwest will hold preferential rights to use a portion of the eLNG plant’s capacity on a tolling basis, an arrangement that provides a potential market for some of Norwest’s 20% equity share of gas from the recent Energy Resources Ltd.-operated Lockyer Deep-North Erregulla discovery onshore North Perth basin (Norwest holds 20% and 22%, respectively).

PCF’s plan for the eLNG plant is to convert pipeline natural gas to LNG which is to be marketed as marine bunker fuel for bulk iron ore carriers operating out of Port Hedland, the world’s largest iron ore export port.

The plant is expected to have an initial production capacity of 0.5 million/year (tpy) with potential expansion to 1.5 million tpy.

An outsourced power supply for the plant will come from predominantly renewable sources.

A similar 0.5 million tpy eLNG plant was brought on stream in Yangling, China in 2015 engineered by Technip Energies using Air Products technology and equipment.