Cheniere Energy Partners says it now plans to export the first liquefied natural gas cargo from its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana in late February or early March, a delay from the previous estimate of late January.
Bloomberg reports the company is citing “instrumentation issues” discovered during the final phases of plant commissioning and cool-down as the reason for the delay. The issues will require additional work over the next few weeks. Bechtel Corp. is the engineering and construction contractor.
“With construction of Train 1 finished, we remain well ahead of the guaranteed contractual schedule with Bechtel and anticipate no issues in meeting all contractual targets and guaranteed completion dates,” says Neal Shear, Cheniere’s interim president and chief executive officer.
The liquefaction plants are referred to as trains. Trains 2 through 5 continue to be on an ”accelerated schedule,” Shear says.
The shale gas boom is projected to transform the U.S. into one of the world’s largest suppliers of the fuel by the end of the decade. The country may be capable of exporting 7.76 billion cubic feet of gas a day by 2019, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis shows. The commissioning cargo from Sabine Pass would be the first LNG shipment from the lower 48 states.
Plants such as Sabine Pass will cool and liquefy natural gas to 1/600th of its volume for easier loading onto tankers. Cheniere plans to build at least six trains to produce LNG at Sabine Pass by late 2018, allowing the terminal to supply more than 3.5 billion cubic feet a day. The project is estimated to cost at least $15 billion.
As reported on Wednesday, a fleet of tugboats that have gone unused over the past seven years are waiting along the Louisiana coast to assist in the LNG exports.
