US-listed New Fortress Energy has produced its first volumes of LNG from its offshore facility off Altamira over a year later than originally planned.
The company said in a statement on Friday that it had achieved its first LNG for its initial Fast LNG asset off Altamira.
It gave no details of the volumes produced or mentioned that a cargo had been loaded onto an export vessel, although staff in a video post referenced a transfer of LNG to the unit’s floating storage unit.
Tracking data at one point showed the 138,000-cbm Energos Princess (built 2003) alongside the facility’s FSU, the 160,000-cbm Energos Penguin (built 2014).
But iGIS/LNG data records that the Energos Penguin’s draught implies it is empty, with the Energos Princess showing just a little heel, implying its visit may have been a test run or delivering additional cooldown volumes for the FSU.
Data provider Eikland Energy described flaring at the facility as “intense”, suggesting LNG production has yet to be stabilised.
New Fortress said Fast LNG — which it confusingly refers to as FLNG that is more commonly used to denote floating LNG — “establishes itself as the fastest large-scale LNG project ever developed”.
New Fortress started work on its novel design for offshore LNG production in early 2021, buying three semi-submersible jack-up rigs to convert in the US into a linked offshore facility to produce and bring LNG to markets on a faster schedule than traditional liquefaction facilities.
On 26 April, a pipe fracture occurred inside the liquefaction unit’s cold box causing an eruption of perlite insulation material that coated the rig housing this kit.
The company announced the facility would be producing LNG by June 2023. On 14 June 2024, the company said production would start in 10 days and deliver its first cargo in July.
Fast LNG has a production capacity of 1.4m tonnes per annum of LNG.
New Fortress chief financial officer Chris Guinta has said it can produce about 90 cargoes over the next four years.
The company said the facility, which it values at over $2bn, will “play a pivotal role in supplying low-cost, clean LNG to the company’s downstream terminal customers”.
New Fortress chairman and chief executive Wes Edens said: “First LNG represents a transformative moment for our company and the industry as a whole.”
Guinta said the team had spent more than nine million work hours, to bring this large-scale project to life “at a record pace”. He said the company’s downstream customers can now benefit from additional access to clean and reliable LNG.
