New Fortress Energy will finish on Friday its commissioning and pre-production run of LNG from its offshore unit Fast LNG off Altamira, Mexico and load a first partial cargo.
The US-listed company, which is due to announce its second-quarter results on the same day – 9 August — said in an update today that these first volumes will be loaded onto the 138,000-cbm Energos Princess (built 2003).
The 160,000-cbm NFE Penguin (built 2014) is being used as a floating storage vessel alongside the offshore structure.
New Fortress said the shipment will then be delivered to its La Paz, Mexico terminal “in the following days”.
After this first load, the 1.4m tonnes per annum capacity Fast LNG will undergo a scheduled maintenance outage of several days.
The unit, which comprises three converted and now linked semi-submersible drilling rigs, will then resume operations and is expected to reach full production this month.
New Fortress chief executive Wes Edens said: “Being able to supply our customers with our own LNG has been a goal for the company for many years.
“Natural gas and power supply are critical components of a sustainable, affordable and cleaner energy system and we are grateful to now be able to provide an end-to-end solution for our customers.”
New Fortress appears to have been struggling to bring Fast LNG online.
The project is running more than a year late, and in April the liquefaction unit’s cold box suffered a blowout that needed repair and cleaning work.
The Energos Princess made an apparent dry run to the facility last month amid an announcement from New Fortress that it had fired up production and expectation that exports were about to kick off.
