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State-owned QatarEnergy owns a 70 percent stake in the Golden Pass project with a capacity of more than 18 mtpa and will offtake 70 percent of the capacity, while US energy firm ExxonMobil has a 30 percent share.
A joint venture of Chiyoda, McDermott, and Zachry won the EPC contract to build the tree Golden Pass trains worth about $10 billion next to the existing LNG import terminal.
However, Zachry Holdings said on May 21 it has filed for bankruptcy, initiating a structured exit from the Golden Pass LNG export project due to “financial challenges” related to the construction of the facility.
Golden Pass LNG told LNG Prime on July 25 that it will ramp up construction activities at the LNG terminal after a bankruptcy court approved a settlement agreement with Zachry.
The JV also said that project is 75 percent complete.
Construction report
Golden Pass LNG Terminal and Golden Pass Pipeline said in the newest construction report filed with the US FERC that Golden Pass is continuing to carry out Phase I and Phase II activities, such as storm water management levee construction, stockpiling of material, piling, pre-commissioning, and electrical commissioning.
Golden Pass and its contractors progressed installation of piping in utilities and brownfield areas, continued piping and vessels insulation activities, and activities on the ground flares.
In addition, Golden Pass progressed brownfield tie-ins and LNG tank tops modifications scope, continued pipe pneumatic / hydrostatic testing program, and progressed pipe blowing, pipe tightness testing, and equipment oil flushing activities.
Golden Pass also continued loop checks and mechanical run-ins of fin fans, executed commissioning of air system to put in service. progressed levee construction activities, and finalized tying down material across site as part of hurricane preparedness activities.
As per the pipeline expansion project, Golden Pass continued civil activities and concrete foundation pours at the MP33 and MP69 compressor stations and also continued pipe fabrication and installation at these stations.
It continued construction activities of the Sabine Spur, Natural Gas Pipeline (NGPL)
Interconnect improvements, and associated facilities, as well as hydrostatic testing program at MP33 and MP69 compressor stations.
The company is also setting mechanical equipment at the MP01, MP33, and MP69 sites.
Production launch in 2025
ExxonMobil’s CEO Darren Woods recently said the partners are now expecting to start LNG production at their terminal on the US Gulf Coast near Sabine Pass in the second half of 2025.
Asked about the Golden Pass project during ExxonMobil’s second-quarter results call on Friday, Woods said the joint venture “is in the process of kind of restaffing and getting started back up again.”
“Obviously, we’re in the very early days of that. So there’s still more work to be done. And of course, the teams are very focused on getting back to work, effectively executing and bringing that project in as quickly as they can and as close to the original schedule as they can,” he said.
In February, Woods said that “train 1 mechanical completion is expected at the end of 2024 with first LNG in the first half of 2025.”
“Right now, our estimate is we’re going to see about a 6-month slippage,” Woods said during the call.
Woods said that the JV had anticipated “kind of first LNG in the middle of next year.”
“We now are looking at probably the back end of 2025 for first LNG,” he said.