In a statement posted on its website, Freeport LNG Development, LP has announced that it has received regulatory approval to begin commercial operations of its natural gas export and liquefaction facility.
The company noted that the authorization provides for the immediate full return to service of one liquefaction train, which it says has already been restarted, and the gradual restart and full return to service of a second train. The restart and return to service of Freeport LNG’s third liquefaction train will require further regulatory approval once certain operational conditions are met, Freeport LNG said.
“A conservative ramp-up profile to establish three-train production of approximately 2 billion cubic
This is expected to occur over the coming weeks as stable operation of each incremental train is established and maintained,” Freeport LNG said in the statement.
“Operations are initially using two of Freeport LNG’s three LNG storage tanks and one of its two LNG berths. The second LNG berth and third LNG storage tank are expected to return to service in May. The first LNG production and ship loading from the facility began on February 11,” the company added.
In the statement, Michael Smith, founder, president and CEO of Freeport LNG, said that “returning to liquefaction operations is a significant achievement for Freeport LNG.”
“Over the past eight months, we have implemented improvements to our processes, procedures and training to ensure safe and reliable operations, and have significantly increased staffing levels with extensive LNG and petrochemical operational experience to reduce overtime, improve operational excellence i
improve quality assurance and business performance,” he added.
“Eight months of diligence, discipline and dedicated efforts by our teams, working in partnership with regulatory agencies and local officials, have positioned us to resume LNG production and begin to accelerate the safe establishment of commercial operations of our liquefaction facility,” Smith. it continued.
In a statement sent to Rigzone this week, Rystad energy analyst Ade Allen said “Freeport LNG is back in the game and ready to boost exports again.”
Allen added, however, that “the news … that the facility has approval to restart production on one of its liquefaction trains, with a second train coming back online soon, could not have came at a worse time for the markets as the Henry center of a quick month.prices fell to multi-year lows”.
“The March Henry Hub futures contract settled at $2.07/MMbtu on Tuesday and fell below $2/MMbtu in overnight trading. The April contract, which is trading around 2 ,$13/MMbtu, is now the fast month as the March contract expires on Friday,” Allen said.
On June 8, 2022, a statement was released on Freeport LNG’s official Facebook page announced that an incident had occurred at the Freeport LNG facility on Quintana Island around 11:40 a.m.. An update posted on the company’s Facebook page the same day revealed that the incident had been stabilized and that the company was in the early stages of its investigation into the incident.
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