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Delfin FLNG Terminal is a proposed floating LNG export terminal in Louisiana, United States. It would be the first deepwater floating liquefaction terminal offshore in the United States.[1]
Location
The floating terminal would be located in the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana.
Project Details
- Owner: Delfin LNG LLC[2]
- Operator: Fairwood Peninsula Energy Company[3]
- Parent: Fairwood Peninsula Energy Company (95%), Enbridge (5%)[4]
- Location: Port Delfin, Cameron Parish, Louisiana, United States
- Coordinates: 29.13697735, -93.53395095 (exact)
- Type: Export
- Trains: 4
- Capacity: 13.5 mtpa (3.375 mtpa per vessel/train)[5]
- Formerly 12 million metric tonnes per year (3.0 mtpa per vessel/train)[6]
- Cost: US$8 billion ($2 billion per vessel)[7]
- Formerly US$7 billion
- Status: Proposed
- FID Status: Pre-FID (2024)[8]
- Formerly Pre-FID (2023)[5]
- Start Year: 2027[9]
- Formerly 2026[10]
Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day
Background
Delfin FLNG Terminal is a proposed LNG terminal in Louisiana, United States.[11] The terminal would consist of four floating LNG trains with a total export capacity of 13 million metric tonnes per year of LNG. It is planned for operation in 2021-2022.[12][13] The project costs are estimated at US$7 billion.[14]
In June of 2017, the US Department of Energy approved the companies' application to export LNG from the proposed facility.[15]
As of June 2019, the project is being delayed by more than three years, the company told the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a filing. Delfin LNG told regulators that it expects to finish the project 3 years and 6 months later than anticipated and requested an extension. Initial plans were to begin delivering LNG by 2021 at the earliest.[16]
In August of 2019, Golar, an original partner in the project, announced that it had decided to drop out of the project, citing insufficient reliable customers. The chief operating officer (COO) of Delfin LNG LLC, Wouter Pastoor, disagrees that the project isn't viable. However, Delfin LNG LLC has not made a final investment decision (FID) or said how it will finance the project. The FID was originally expected in 2018.[17]
In October of 2019, Delfin LNG LLC announced that it would further delay the FID from 2019 to 2020. Delfin LNG LLC cited the trade war between China and the U.S.'s Trump administration as a reason for the delays. Operations are now expected to begin in 2024.[18]
In July 2020, U.S. FERC granted Delfin LNG LLC a further extension out to September 2021 to commence the building of the terminal. The crisis in global LNG markets which has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic was thought to be the main factor behind the project's ongoing delay.[19]
In September 2020, as Delfin LNG LLC was engaged with multiple buyers on flexible contracts for 10 to 25 years, Delfin Midstream Chief Executive Dudley Poston told Reuters that FID for the project was now delayed until 2021. The company needs to sell approximately 2.5 million metric tons of LNG per annum before it can sanction the project, according to Poston.[20]
In November 2022, the project was granted an extension from FERC to begin service by September 2023.[21]
In July 2023, Delfin LNG requested more time from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions (FERC) to complete the facility. In a letter to FERC, Delfin LNG sought to extend its permit to construct the facility until September 2023. Delfin has requested FERC extensions three times in the past.[22]
According to the July 2023 GIIGNL report, Delfin FLNG Terminal is fully approved and expected to take FID before the end of 2023, with a start year of 2026.[5] Delfin Midstream said it expects to take FID in October 2023.[23] The FID date has been pushed back by a few months throughout 2023; in March, the company said it would occur in Q2 2023,[24] and in April the company said it would occur by mid-2023.[25]
In October 2023, FERC granted Delfin LNG an extension for its permit allowing the developers until September 28, 2027 to build the project.[26]
As of February 2024, Deflin FLNG was targeting an FID over the coming months.[8]
In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration (MARAD) rejected Delfin FLNG's permit application and requested it resubmit it after making alterations to the planned development.[27]
In March 2024, Deflin FLNG was seeking a five-year extension for its LNG export authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Its existing deadline for commencing exports was June 1, 2024.[28]
Contracts
In July 2022, Delfin LNG announced a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Vitol Inc. for 0.5 mtpa Delfin over a 15-year time period.[10]
In August 2022, Delfin LNG announced a non-binding heads of agreement (HOA) with the UK's Centrica Plc, which agreed to purchase 1 mtpa LNG for 15 years.[29]
In September 2022, Devon Energy agreed to a non-binding HOA with Delfin to purchase 1 mtpa LNG through a long-term contract, with the possibility of increasing its purchase to 2 mtpa through Delfin FLNG Terminal or a future project.[30]
In April 2023, Delfin and Hartree agreed to an SPA for 0.6 mtpa LNG from the facility over a 20-year period.[31]
In July 2023, Delfin announced an SPA with Centrica, finalizing last year's HOA, for 1 mtpa LNG over 15 years, a deal valued at US$8 billion.[32]
In November 2023, Delfin and Gunvor announced an SPA under which Gunvor will buy 0.5 to 1 mtpa LNG for a 15-year period.[33]
In February 2024, Chesapeake Energy entered an agreement with Delfin LNG and Gunvor to offtake 0.5 mtpa of LNG from the project for a 20-year period beginning in 2028, which it would deliver to Gunvor. This contract accounts for 0.5 mtpa of the previously contracted amount Gunvor agreed to buy from Delfin LNG.[34]
Financing
In June 2023, Delfin announced that it had secured an investment from Japan's shipping company MOL, moving the project closer to FID.[35]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ Delfin LNG Project Overview, Delphin LNG, Accessed 4 June 2017
- ↑ "Home - Delfin LNG". www.delfinmidstream.com. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
- ↑ U.S. Liquefaction Capacity. EIA. Accessed May 2022.
- ↑ Delfin LNG Announces Equity Investment by Enbridge, Inc. Business Wire, July 1, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 GIIGNL. The LNG Industry: GIIGNL Annual Report 2023. July 14, 2023.
- ↑ U.S. Liquefaction Capacity, Energy Information Administration, November 3, 2020
- ↑ "Delfin plans final decision on U.S. Gulf of Mexico LNG project in 2022". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Energy Intelligence. Delfin LNG Targets FID as Permit Expiry Looms. February 28, 2024.
- ↑ Latham & Watkins LLP. Delfin LNG, LLC, FE Docket Nos. 13-129-LNG and 13-147-LNG Order No. 4028, Order Condition O, and Order No. 3393, Order Condition J Semi-annual progress report. March 31, 2023.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 LNG Prime Staff (2022-07-13). "Delfin inks long-term LNG supply deal with Vitol". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
- ↑ Delfin LNG Expanding in the Gulf of Mexico, Oil & Gas 360, 3 March 2015
- ↑ "Project Overview," Delfin LNG, accessed Aug 2017
- ↑ "Delfin FLNG Project Brings Golar LNG Onboard After U.S. Grants Key Export License" Industrial Info Resources, June 23, 2017
- ↑ "Delfin Floating LNG Project, Gulf of Mexico" Offshore Technology, accessed July 17, 2020
- ↑ U.S. Approves First Offshore LNG Export Application, The Maritime Executive, 1 May 2017
- ↑ Kristen Mosbrucker, Delfin LNG project in Cameron Parish delayed for years The Advocate, June 26, 2019
- ↑ Kristen Mosbrucker, Delfin LNG loses partner, still plans floating export facility in Cameron Parish The Advocate, September 4, 2019
- ↑ UPDATE 1-Delfin pushes decision to build Louisiana floating LNG export project to 2020 Reuters, October 30, 2019
- ↑ Scott DiSavino, "U.S. gives Delfin another year to build Louisiana floating LNG project" Reuters, Jul. 15, 2019
- ↑ Ekaterina Kravtsova, Scott DiSavino, "LNG investments vanish in 2020 as coronavirus slashes oil and gas prices" Reuters, Sep. 8, 2020
- ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2022-11-22). "Delfin secures extension to build its US floating LNG export project". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
- ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2022-07-18). "Delfin seeks more time to build its US floating LNG export project". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
- ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2023-07-25). "Delfin expects to take FID on first floating LNG producer in October". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
- ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2023-03-27). "Delfin plans to take FID on first floating LNG producer in Q2". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
- ↑ Natural Gas Intelligence. Delfin LNG Project Said on Track for FID by Mid-2023 After Hartree SPA. April 24, 2023.
- ↑ Staff, LNG Prime (2023-10-05). "Delfin gets extension to build US FLNG project". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ↑ Hine (l_hine), Lucy (2024-04-22). "Delfin LNG denied licence by US authorities after multiple changes to FLNG project". TradeWinds | Latest shipping and maritime news. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ↑ Staff, LNG Prime (2024-03-08). "Delfin seeks DOE extension for FLNG project". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ↑ "UK's Centrica signs LNG deal with U.S. supplier Delfin Midstream". financialpost. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
- ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2022-09-05). "Delfin inks FLNG pact with Devon Energy". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
- ↑ GlobeNewswire. Delfin Signs LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement with Hartree. April 24, 2023.
- ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2023-07-11). "Delfin, Centrica seal $8 billion US LNG supply deal". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
- ↑ Inc, Delfin Midstream (2023-11-27). "Delfin Midstream Signs Long-Term LNG Supply Agreement with Gunvor". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ↑ Staff, LNG Prime (2024-02-13). "Chesapeake seals LNG deal with Delfin and Gunvor". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2023-06-09). "Delfin moves closer to FIDs on two floating LNG producers after MOL deal". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
