Sempra to Decide on U.S., Mexican LNG Export Plants in 2020

California energy company Sempra Energy (SRE) said on Thursday it expects to make final investment decisions (FID) this year to build two new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants - one in the United States and one in Mexico:

Sempra said it plans to make FIDs on the first phase of the Costa Azul export plant in Baja California in Mexico in the first quarter and the Port Arthur export plant in Texas in the third quarter.

At Costa Azul, Sempra has said Energia Costa Azul LNG has non-binding 20-year agreements with units of Total SA (TTFNF) of France and Mitsui & Co and Tokyo Gas Co Ltd of Japan to buy about 0.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG each.

The first phase of Costa Azul is designed to have one liquefaction train that can produce about 2.4 MTPA or 0.32 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas.

Sempra has said Costa Azul could make its first LNG deliveries in 2023. The project will be built at the existing Costa Azul LNG import plant, which entered service in 2008 and has the capacity to regasify up to 1 bcfd.

At Port Arthur, Sempra said Port Arthur LNG is working on agreements with units of Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) for the purchase of 5 MTPA of LNG and a 25% equity investment in the project, and with Polish Oil & Gas Co (PGNiG) to buy 2 MTPA of LNG.

The initial phase of the Port Arthur project is expected to include two liquefaction trains that can export about 11 MTPA of LNG.

Sempra also said Train 2 at the 15-MTPA Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana will enter commercial service in the coming days. There is already one unit operating commercially at the plant - Train 1. Train 2 started producing LNG in test mode in December 2019. Train 3 is expected to enter commercial service in the third quarter, Sempra said.

Sempra has said it has a goal of developing projects capable of delivering 45 MTPA of LNG to the world.

In addition to the first phases of Costa Azul, Cameron and Port Arthur, Sempra is developing a second two-train phase at Costa Azul, a second 10-MTPA two-train phase at Cameron and a second 11-MTPA two-train phase at Port Arthur.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Dan Grebler)