McDermott International and its partners have introduced feed gas into the first liquefaction train of the Freeport LNG export project in Texas to advance the project from the construction stage towards production.
The company said that the introduction of the feed gas marks the final commissioning stage of the first train of the natural gas liquefaction and LNG export terminal, which is being built on Quintana Island in Freeport.
The Freeport LNG export project will have four trains with a combined capacity of more than 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).
McDermott’s role in the Freeport LNG export project
McDermott, in partnership with Chiyoda International and Zachry Group, has been engaged in providing engineering, procurement, and facility construction and also commissioning and initial operations for the first three trains of the Freeport LNG export project.
Prior to that, Zachry Group, a US-based construction engineering company, utilised the services of McDermott for the pre-FEED of the LNG project in 2011, following which the duo worked on providing FEED works to support its early development stage.
The first train is targeted to begin operations in Q3 2019 while the second and third trains are expected to be placed into service by mid-2020.
The LNG export project, which will also have a second loading berth and a 165,000m3 full containment LNG storage tank, is being built near the existing Freeport LNG Regasification Terminal.
McDermott North, Central and South America senior vice president Mark Coscio said: “First of its kind in the US, with the largest electric motor driven refrigeration compressors, the Freeport LNG facility will significantly improve the energy export capabilities we have in the U.S., and McDermott is pleased to be part of its development from the ground up. Once Train 1 is fully operational, it will have the capacity to produce more than 5 million tonnes of LNG per year.”
In May 2019, the US Department of Energy (DOE) approved the proposed fourth liquefaction train of the Freeport LNG export project to export domestically produced natural gas to non-free trade agreement (non-FTA) countries.
The fourth train of the LNG export project is slated to commence operations in 2023 with KBR named as the preferred bidder to provide the engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning services.
