Bechtel National and Sempra Energy have signed a fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Port Arthur liquefied natural gas liquefaction project in Texas, with an updated $10.5-billion contract price. The award updates one signed in 2020 but delayed due to the COVID-19-generated global fuel demand drop. The firms would not disclose the original contract price but earlier reports suggested it was between $8 billion and $9 billion.

30 Million Metric Tons
Annual LNG export amount in 20 long-term supply deals signed by five developers in 2022 to European and Asian buyers. The U.S now is the leading global exporter.

—oilprice.com

Based on current customer interest, “Port Arthur LNG is highly attractive to the global market,” Sempra said Oct. 20.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Oct. 13 approved Sempra’s recent extension request to finish the plant and associated pipelines by June 2028, citing market conditions and supply chain problems. Phase one will include two natural gas liquefaction trains set to produce 13.5 million tons per year of LNG. The project’s second phase is “competitively positioned” and under development, Sempra said, adding that the nearly 3,000-acre site could expand to eight trains with about 45 million tpy capacity.

But the Port Arthur Community Action Network filed a federal court appeal in October, says a report by Spotlight. It seeks stricter air pollution limits for the facility, which a state environmental agency declined to set in September when approving its permit, despite support of the group's position by an administrative law judge in May.

The state agency agreed with Port Arthur LNG's claims that those limits would not be financially feasible and that new technologies have not been tested in existing facilities. Agency and company officials declined comment.

NextDecade Corp. also authorized Bechtel to proceed on initial work at its Rio Grande LNG project, near Brownsville, Texas, with the first two trains set to finish in four years, it told regulators. The project also faces community opposition, although the company has said it will reduce carbon intensity through carbon capture technology and other measures.

 

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Penn America Energy Holdings LLC

Proposed Pennsylvania LNG Project

$369B
Projected global investment in oil and gas pipelines from 2022 to 2028
—Westwood Global Energy Group

Penn America Energy Holdings LLC has signed an agreement with MiQ to certify that methane emissions and operations of its planned $6.4-billion LNG export terminal on the Delaware River, possibly in Chester, Pa., meets the standards of the non-for-profit that was launched in 2020 by Rocky Mountain Institute and SYSTEMIQ to assist in rapid methane emissions reduction in the oil and gas sector.

Penn America targets a final investment decision in 2024 for the proposed 7.2-million ton-per year facility, with operation eyed by 2028.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in early November signed a $2-billion tax credit package for hydrogen production and other industries that includes $1 billion in incentives to attract a new hydrogen hub to the state. Ninety cents of each dollar offered is set to encourage petrochemical manufacturers to use locally produced natural gas.

 

Chang Chun Group

First in the US Semiconductor Chemicals Plant in Arizona

Taiwan-based petrochemical supplier Chang Chun Group said it has started construction of a manufacturing plant in Casa Grande, Ariz., to supply electronic grade chemicals used in manufacture of semiconductor wafers—its first U.S. production facility.

The estimated $300-million facility will begin operation in 2023, start supplying wafer fab plants in 2024 and be fully built in 2025. The facility will make electronic-grade hydrogen peroxide, plating solution and other chemical products necessary for chip manufacturing, said Greater Phoenix Economic Council CEO Chris Camacho.

“We are ready to meet growing demand of the semiconductor industry in Arizona and throughout the U.S.,” said Yu-hung Su, the Taiwan firm's U.S. president.