US player days away from first LNG at its FLNG offshore Mexico

U.S. energy infrastructure player New Fortress Energy (NFE) is looking forward to achieving the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its floating LNG (FLNG) facility off the coast of Altamira, Tamaulipas.

While confirming “tremendous progress” toward the start of liquefaction operations, New Fortress Energy has updated the timing for the first LNG from its first 1.4 million tons per annum (mtpa) Fast LNG installation, FLNG 1, located offshore Mexico. As a result, the firm expects to produce LNG in the next ten days and deliver its first cargo in July.

Since the work required to kick off operations is complete, the firm has also finished the pre-commissioning activities. The U.S. player developed a new LNG project at Altamira in partnership with CFE, Mexico’s state-owned electric utility. This project entails the deployment of Fast LNG liquefaction infrastructure to help expand the natural gas supply to Baja California Sur.

New Fortress Energy’s FLNG 1, which will liquefy gas supplied by the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline, is anticipated to assist in creating a new FLNG hub off the east coast of Mexico, bringing cleaner, reliable, and more affordable energy solutions.

After Pioneer II, the liquefaction rig that will chill and convert clean natural gas into LNG, arrived in October 2023 at its final destination in Altamira to join the other two rigs that comprise FLNG 1, the U.S. firm achieved its first gas the following month.

According to NFE, the first gas begins at a subsea pipeline about 2 km away from the rig, where the gas then travels up the risers and into its meter system. Thanks to an export permit for its Altamira Fast LNG facility from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (SENER), the company is authorized to export up to 7.8 million metric tons through April 2028.

The permit followed the authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy to export United States-sourced LNG to Mexico and other FTA countries. NFE plans to deploy multiple FLNG units of 1.4 mtpa.