The second train at Cheniere’s Sabine pass liquefaction and export plant in Louisiana has started producing liquefied natural gas, according to analytics firm Genscape, that has infrared cameras pointed at the facility.
“ Genscape’s IR cameras witnessed the methane stacks come online with the increased pipeline nominations to Sabine the past two days (average 984 MMcf/d) up from the previous thirty day average of 640 MMcf/d,” the analytics firm said in a notice issued on July 29.
Genscape said in the notice it now expects the second liquefaction train to have three months of startup where the engineering procurement and construction checklist is completed allowing for the sign over from LNG engineer Bechtel to Cheniere.
“ This sign over would represent the pre-commercial status as seen at Train 1 right now, ” it added.
Cheniere said earlier this year that the first cargo from the second train is expected to be shipped in mid-August.
The Houston-based company took over control of the first liquefaction train in May from Bechtel. First commercial delivery is expected to occur in November when the 20-year LNG sales and purchase agreement with Shell commences.
Sabine pass export plant, first of its kind to ship U.S. shale gas overseas, shipped 20 cargoes since it started producing the chilled fuel in February.
The majority of these exports went to South America, followed by the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
Cheniere plans to build over time up to six liquefaction trains at Sabine Pass, which are in various stages of development. Each train is expected to have a nominal production capacity of about 4.5 mtpa of LNG.
LNG World News Staff