Gas Processing News

BCCK signs deal for landfill gas-to-energy plant

BCCK Holding Co. (BCCK) signed an agreement with Archaea Energy to provide a 13,700-sft³/min Style IV NiTech nitrogen rejection unit (NRU) to the world’s largest high-BTU landfill gas-to-energy plant in Pennsylvania, U.S.

The Style IV NiTech process design features a new, modular-skidded design that allows greater flexibility with respect to compositional changes or flow capacity changes. BCCK’s NiTech technology performs a key role in transforming landfill gas into nearly 100% pure renewable natural gas.

The NRUs, which are engineered in-house and fabricated at BCCK’s fabrication facility, deliver smaller footprint, less compression requirements in terms of horsepower and higher recovery, all at reduced CAPEX.

Energy Transfer to buy Enable Midstream for $2.6 B

Energy Transfer LP plans to buy Enable Midstream Partners to strengthen its natural gas transportation business as it faces a legal battle that could shut its Dakota Access crude pipeline. The $2.6-B deal, announced in mid-February, came just weeks after a U.S. appeals court dealt a blow to the 557,000-bpd Dakota pipeline, raising the chances that it will be shut pending an environmental review.

Regulators have also denied permits to notable natural gas pipelines, while the new Biden administration has effectively canceled the Keystone XL pipeline project and has indicated its intention to limit oil and gas drilling on federal lands.

The acquisition was valued at about $7.2 B, including debt. The deal will provide gas gathering and processing assets in the Arkoma basin across Oklahoma and Arkansas, as well as the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and North Louisiana. Energy Transfer expects the combined company to generate more than $100 MM of annual run-rate cost and efficiency savings.

Australia marks LNG export record in 2020

Australia exported a record 78 MMt of LNG in 2020, up from 77.5 MMt in 2019, according to estimates by EnergyQuest. The record-high levels were reported despite the disruptions to Gorgon output, Prelude not producing LNG since early February 2020, production issues at Wheatstone and COVID-19 demand destruction for LNG, especially early in the year.

Australian production was above Qatar’s estimated nameplate capacity of 77 MMtpy. The Australian projects operated at 89% of total nameplate capacity of 87.8 MMtpy. Australia’s 2020 total LNG export revenue was estimated at A$36.1 B, a decrease from A$48.7 B in 2019. LNG export revenue was impacted by lower oil prices seen through much of the year since April, coupled with low spot prices for LNG.

Meanwhile, Woodside is looking to sell a 50% stake in the new production train at its Pluto LNG plant in Western Australia, as a precondition for a planned, $11-B expansion at its Scarborough gas development. The renewed push by Australia’s largest independent gas producer on the 8-metric-MMtpy expansion project comes after last year’s COVID-19-induced collapse in oil and gas prices drove Woodside’s underlying annual profit down 58% to $447 MM.

Tema LNG regas facility begins deliveries

Tema LNG’s FRU arrived in Ghana in early January, allowing Tema LNG Terminal Co. to start delivering LNG to customers in Q1 2021. The LNG is supplied under a long-term contract with Shell.

Tema LNG, backed by Helios Investment Partners and Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers, is the first offshore LNG receiving terminal in sub-Saharan Africa. The terminal employs the innovative combination of the FRU twinned with an existing LNG carrier to receive, store and regasify 1.7 MMtpy of LNG.

This system provides Ghana with all the functionality of a large scale FRU terminal, but with added flexibility. This enables Ghana National Petroleum Corp. to supply reliable and cost-effective gas into the Tema power and industrial enclave while strengthening West Africa’s energy security.

Israel to link Leviathan gas field to Egypt LNG plants

Israel and Egypt have agreed to build a pipeline to connect Israel’s offshore Leviathan natural gas field to LNG terminals in northern Egypt. Palestine has also signed an agreement with Egypt’s energy minister, who visited Israel and the occupied West Bank, to develop a gas field off the coast of Gaza. Israel and Egypt are both looking for new ways to expand the development of East Mediterranean natural gas.

Israel’s Leviathan field, located 130 km (80 mi) off Israel’s coast, already supplies the Israeli domestic market and exports gas to Jordan and Egypt. Its shareholders include Chevron and Delek Drilling. Leviathan’s partners have been exploring options to expand the project, including a floating LNG facility or a subsea pipeline to link up with LNG terminals in Egypt that have been idled or run at less than their nameplate capacity.

Meanwhile, Palestine has asked Egypt for help in developing the Gaza Marine field with the project’s partners, the Palestine Investment Fund, the sovereign fund of the Palestinian Authority and Consolidated Contractors Co. Gaza Marine sits approximately 30 km (19 mi) off the Palestinian enclave’s coast and is estimated to hold more than 1 Tft³ of natural gas.

Technip, Chiyoda awarded LNG contracts for Qatar LNG

TechnipFMC announced that CTJV, a joint venture between Chiyoda Corp. and Technip Energies, has been awarded a major EPCC contract by Qatar Petroleum for the onshore facilities of the North Field East project.

The award will cover the delivery of four mega-trains, each with a capacity of 8 MMtpy of LNG and associated utility facilities. It will include a large CO₂ capture and sequestration facility, leading to more than 25% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions when compared to similar LNG facilities.

The new facilities will receive approximately 6 Bsft³d of feed gas from the eastern sector of Qatar’s North Field, which is the largest nonassociated gas field in the world. The expansion project will produce approximately 33 MMtpy of additional LNG, increasing Qatar’s total production from 77 MMtpy to 110 MMtpy. GP