Gas processing news

M. Cruthirds, News Editor

FERC approves Cameron LNG project

Sempra Energy announced that its subsidiary, Cameron LNG, has received authorization from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to site, construct and operate a natural gas liquefaction and export facility at the site of the company’s LNG receiving terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana.

The FERC permit is one of the last major regulatory approvals required to start construction on the $9 B–$10 B LNG facility. The authorization approves the development of the three-train liquefaction facility, which will provide an export capability of 12 MMtpy of LNG, or approximately 1.7 Bcfd. The FERC also authorized a subsidiary of Sempra Energy to construct a 21-mile, 42-in. natural gas pipeline expansion of the Cameron Interstate Pipeline, a new compressor station and ancillary equipment that will provide natural gas transportation for the liquefaction facilities.

Earlier this year, Cameron LNG was awarded conditional approval from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to export LNG to non-free-trade-agreement countries, including Japan and several European nations.

Permian basin midstream gas deal inked

Canyon Midstream Partners has entered into gathering and processing agreements with Apache and XTO Energy, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, for midstream services on Canyon’s James Lake System. In addition, Canyon said it expanded its cryogenic gas processing plant at the James Lake plant in Ector County, Texas, from 70 MMcfd to 100 MMcfd, by adding a 30-MMcfd cryogenic turboexpansion train.

The James Lake plant is part of Canyon’s James Lake system, which includes 60 mi of 12-in. trunkline and six field compressor stations providing low-pressure gathering services to Ector, Andrews, Martin, Dawson and Gaines counties, Texas.

When completed in late 2014, the James Lake system will deliver residue gas into the El Paso gas pipeline, and deliver NGL to the Sand Hills and Chaparral pipelines. Canyon is also developing Phase 2 of the James Lake system, which will consist of a second 100-MMcfd cryogenic gas processing plant in Martin county and 60 additional mi of 12-in. trunkline, which will expand the system’s service territory into Howard and Borden counties, Texas. Canyon expects Phase 2 to commence operations in the first half of 2015.

Gulf LNG awards FEED work

KBR has been awarded a contract by Gulf LNG Liquefaction Co. to provide FERC FEED engineering and FERC report pre-filing services. The contract is aimed at supporting the addition of 10 MMtpy of liquefaction and export capabilities to Gulf LNG Energy LLC’s existing LNG import terminal in Jackson County, Mississippi.

Under the terms of the contract, KBR will perform FERC FEED engineering for two LNG trains of 5 MMtpy each, and associated facilities based on KBR’s reference design using APCI C3MR technology. Additionally, KBR will provide FERC technical documentation. 

The terminal will retain its current capability to receive, store, regasify and deliver natural gas into the interstate pipeline system as originally constructed, thereby making the Gulf LNG terminal bidirectional.

Regency to build out gas processing in Louisiana

Regency Energy Partners plans to construct a new processing plant and NGL pipeline at its Dubberly facility in northern Louisiana. The project will include the addition of a 200-MMcfd cryogenic processing plant at the existing Dubberly facility, which will accept gas directly from Regency’s recently completed Dubberly gathering trunkline.

In addition, Regency will construct a 160-mile, 8-in. and 10-in. NGL pipeline from Dubberly for delivery to fractionation facilities. The pipeline will have an initial capacity of 25,000 bpd, and it will be expandable via additional pump stations.

Combined project costs are expected to be approximately $260 MM, and both projects are expected to be completed in mid-2015.

Algerian gas project in execution phase

A project consortium that includes RWE Dea has signed a $976 MM contract for the construction of a natural gas processing plant and infrastructure in the Algerian Sahara for the Reggane Nord project.

Representatives of the Groupement Reggane, of which RWE Dea is a partner, signed the contract to construct the natural gas processing facilities and corresponding infrastructure, including the gathering network and export pipeline, on May 15. The contract was awarded to Petrofac International LLC, and it stipulates completion of the facilities within 36 months.

After completion, the plant will be operated with a gas throughput capacity of around 283 MMcfd.

FEED work awarded for Goldboro LNG

CB&I has been awarded a contract by Pieridae Energy for FEED for the Goldboro LNG project located in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Under the FEED contract, CB&I will design and engineer two LNG trains and associated facilities in preparation for the EPC phase. Goldboro LNG will produce up to 10 MMtpy of LNG and will have onsite storage capacity of 690,000 m³ of LNG.

Pieridae is in advanced discussions with several natural gas producers, pipeline operators and LNG customers, the company reported. In June 2013, Pieridae entered into a 20-year sales agreement with E.ON Global Commodities, a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest investor-owned power and gas companies, to deliver approximately 5 MMtpy of LNG from Goldboro LNG to E.ON.

Dominion receives ‘favorable’ FERC review

Dominion Energy has received an assessment from the US FERC that finds the natural gas export project proposed at the existing Cove Point LNG facility in southern Maryland can be built and operated safely, with no significant impact to the environment.

Cove Point is the fourth LNG export project to receive an environmental document from FERC. The cooperating agencies that participated in the FERC environmental assessment for the Cove Point export project were the US DOE; the Army Corps of Engineers; the US DOT, including the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; the US Coast Guard; and
the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The construction of the export project, which is estimated to cost between $3.4 B and $3.8 B, will create thousands of skilled construction jobs, 75 permanent jobs and an additional $40 MM in annual tax revenue to Calvert county. The county today receives $15.7 MM/yr from the LNG import facility.

Canada approves LNG export licenses

Canada’s National Energy Board has approved two applications for 25-year natural gas export licenses. A license was approved for Aurora Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd. to export LNG. The export point would be in the vicinity of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, at the outlet of the loading arm of a proposed liquefaction terminal.

A license was also approved for Oregon LNG Marketing Company LLC to export natural gas. The export point would be in the vicinity of Kingsgate and Huntingdon, British Columbia, via existing natural gas pipelines. The issuance of both licenses is subject to the approval of the Governor in Council.

Diesel-to-gas engine picked for pilot program

Omnitek Engineering Corp. has been selected for a Little Rock, Arkansas pilot program intended to demonstrate the economic benefits and environmental effectiveness of the company’s EPA-approved diesel-to-natural-gas engine conversion technology for the Navistar DT466E heavy-duty truck engines used by the city’s municipal truck fleet.

Werner Funk, president and CEO of Omnitek, noted that the converted natural gas trucks will use Little Rock’s new CNG fueling station, resulting in an estimated savings to the city of $2.50/gal–$3/gal equivalent, compared to the retail price of diesel fuel.

Pembina plans new NGL fractionators

Pembina Pipeline plans to build a 55,000-bpd NGL fractionator at its Redwater complex in Alberta, Canada. The fractionator, named RFS 3, will be the third NGL fractionator at the Redwater site. It is expected to be in service by the third quarter of 2017.

The propane-plus RFS 3 fractionator will raise Redwater’s total fractionation capacity to 210,000 bpd. A planned deethanizer tower
on RFS 3 could later raise overall site capacity to 228,000 bpd. The RFS III project remains subject to standard regulatory and environmental approvals.

In conjunction with building RFS 3, Pembina plans to construct a new high-vapor-pressure (HVP) pipeline lateral into the Willesden Green area in south-central Alberta. The project entails installing approximately 56 km of new HVP pipeline, along with other associated infrastructure.

The new pipeline will be connected to Pembina’s Brazeau pipeline and will be capable of transporting ethane-plus (C₂⁺) NGL from the field for delivery into the Fort Saskatchewan area. Subject to regulatory and environmental approval, Pembina expects the new
C₂⁺ lateral to be in service in mid-2015. Photo courtesy of CNW Group/Pembina Pipeline Corp.

Technip wins work for Chinese LNG, CNG

The French firm has been awarded an engineering, procurement and technical assistance contract by Fengzhen Wanjie Gas for an LNG plant in Fengzhen City, Inner Mongolia province, China. The plant will consist of a 1.3-MM-Nm³/day LNG train and a 0.3-MM-Nm³/day compressed natural gas (CNG) station. The contract covers basic engineering design (BED) of the process plant; BED and detailed engineering design of an LNG tank; and procurement of key equipment. The LNG plant will be based on an Air Products liquefaction process. Technip’s operating centers in Shanghai, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will execute the contract, with plant startup scheduled for the second half of 2016. 

Cameron brings CryoCAM plant online

Cameron’s CryoCAM plant is now operating at Nuevo Midstream’s Ramsey processing facility in Reeves County, Texas. The 200-MMscfd cryogenic gas processing plant was built for the Phase III expansion of Nuevo’s gas gathering, processing and treating system in the Delaware basin near Orla, Texas.

The new CryoCAM plant brings the total cryogenic gas processing capacity of the Nuevo system to 300 MMscfd, nearly tripling its current capacity. Cameron has introduced two new standardized modular configurations of its CryoCAM cryogenic gas processing plants for maximum NGL recovery using NGL-MAX technology from Randall Gas Technologies. Cameron offers standard 75-MMscfd and 200-MMscfd cryogenic gas processing plants.

MarkWest to expand NGL complex

MarkWest Energy Partners and The Energy and Minerals Group (EMG) plan to add capacity at their Hopedale fractionation and marketing complex in Harrison County, Ohio. The move aims to meet growing NGL production in the Utica and Marcellus shale regions under new contracted commitments from producer customers.

The expansion will double the propane and heavier fractionation capacity at the Hopedale complex to 120,000 bpd, and it is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2015.

Once the Hopedale expansion is complete, MarkWest will operate 300,000 bpd of ethane and heavier fractionation capacity at four complexes in the US Northeast. The company also has an NGL gathering pipeline connecting its Hopedale complex to its existing NGL infrastructure in the Marcellus shale.

Yamal LNG awards EPC contract

Technip and its partners have together finalized the award by JSC Yamal LNG of a major contract for an LNG facility with a capacity of 16.5 MMtpy. The project will comprise three liquefaction trains of 5.5 MMtpy—among the world’s largest—and it will make extensive use of modularized construction in yards.

For the past 14 months, Technip has been involved in providing project planning, detailed engineering, estimation and procurement work for the project; handover of the first train is planned for 2017. The scope of work for this contract will consist of engineering, procurement and module fabrication on a fixed-price basis, and site construction on a reimbursable basis.

LNG Canada chooses FEED contractors

A JV of Foster Wheeler, Chiyoda, Saipem and WorleyParsons was awarded a contract by LNG Canada for the provision of front-end engineering design (FEED) and project execution services for a proposed LNG export project in Kitimat, British Columbia.

The LNG Canada project is planned as a phased development that will initially comprise two processing trains, each with a production capacity of approximately 6 MMtpy of LNG, with an opportunity for an additional two trains.

The release to proceed with the project execution phase is subject to regulatory approvals and a financial investment decision by LNG Canada, which is expected to be made in the next few years. LNG Canada comprises Shell (50%) and affiliates of PetroChina (20%), Korea Gas Corp. (15%) and Mitsubishi Corp. (15%). GP