US-listed New Fortress Energy has admitted its under-construction floating LNG production plant offshore Mexico has suffered an incident after images of one of the converted jack-up rigs emerged online.
Pictures circulating after being released on the Offshore Life Mexico page on Facebook show the NFE Pioneer II — one of three linked offshore vessels which houses the liquefaction kit for the project — covered in a white substance.
While this appears to show a frosted hull with a deck area filled with ice or snow, some informed FLNG specialists indicated that this is the white perlite insulation from the cold box — the structure that protects and surrounds the cryogenic equipment — on board the unit.
Writing on X, Poten & Partners senior LNG analyst Sergio Chapa said the incident occurred on 26 April during nitrogen pressurisation activities on the mixed refrigerant circuit at the Altamira FLNG facility.
Comments have flooded in from industry players about the photos and their interpretations of what may have happened.
One highly experienced FLNG expert said: “For some reason, the system got over-pressured and something burst within the cold box which is not designed for high pressure, blowing perlite everywhere.”
But many said a fuller report would be needed to understand why the incident had occurred.
In a statement, a New Fortress spokesperson said: “This was a minor mechanical issue that we experienced during the commissioning of our cold box.”
The company added: “All relevant team members were assessed by medical staff and no serious injuries were reported.
“We’re in the final stages of commissioning this project and this is not expected to have an impact on our timeline to begin production of LNG.”
Production from the FLNG project is already running late.
The plant was originally due to be operational in June 2023 after the project was sanctioned in March 2021.
In its annual results call in February, New Fortress officials said the offshore development — which is using the 160,000-cbm NFE Penguin (built 2014) as a floating storage unit — was expected to produce its first LNG at the end of March.
At the time, New Fortress chairman and chief executive Wes Edens admitted the project had been “a little delayed” but would still be the “fastest LNG development in the history of the planet”.
