Sempra awards Port Arthur LNG EPC contract to Bechtel

Sempra Energy and Bechtel’s respective subsidiaries, Port Arthur LNG LLC and Bechtel Oil, Gas, and Chemicals Inc., have signed a fixed-price engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the 13.5 million tonne/year (tpy) Port Arthur LNG liquefaction plant. As part of the EPC contract, Bechtel will perform detailed engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, startup, performance testing, and operator training. The agreement also includes continuing pre-final investment decision engineering.

Port Arthur LNG will include two liquefaction trains, two LNG storage tanks, a marine berth and associated loading equipment, and related infrastructure necessary to provide liquefaction services. The project site sits on nearly 3,000 acres of land along three miles of the Sabine-Neches waterway and has the potential to become one of the largest LNG export projects in North America, with expansion capabilities of up to eight liquefaction trains and 45 million tpy.

In January, Sempra LNG signed an interim project participation agreement with Aramco Services Co., a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, for Port Arthur LNG. This followed a heads of agreement between the two companies in May 2019 for the potential purchase of 5 million tpy of LNG and a 25% equity investment in the project (OGJ Online, May 22, 2019). In December 2018, Port Arthur LNG entered into an agreement with Polish Oil and Gas Co. for the sale and purchase of 2 million tpy (OGJ Online, Dec. 19, 2018).

Port Arthur LNG received authorization from the US Department of Energy to export domestically produced LNG to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the US in May 2019. Additionally, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the approval to site, construct, and operate the liquefaction plant in April 2019 (OGJ Online, Apr. 18, 2019).