Sempra’s ECA LNG kicks off LNG production

Sempra Infrastructure, a unit of Sempra in which the latter is reducing its ownership to 25 percent, announced on Thursday that ECA LNG Phase 1 liquefaction project in Ensenada has successfully started producing LNG as part of the commissioning process toward commercial operations.

According to the firm, ECA LNG Phase 1 is expected to reach substantial completion in the summer with sales under long-term sale and purchase agreements commencing shortly thereafter, when the facility begins commercial operations.

“With its strategic location on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, the ECA LNG facility will enable the supply of US. natural gas to Asia and other Pacific Basin markets through the shortest shipping route, reducing transit times and transportation costs and providing customers with greater access to competitively priced US natural gas,” Sempra Infrastrcutre said.

A second phase is also under development at the same site.

Last month, Sempra’s management said that the LNG plant is expected to start LNG production in June.

Sempra Infrastructure and France’s TotalEnergies added natural gas liquefaction capabilities to the existing ECA LNG regasification terminal, located north of Ensenada in Mexico’s Baja California.

The partners took FID on the development back in 2020, and ECA LNG Phase 1 includes a single-train liquefaction facility with a nameplate capacity of 3.25 mtpa of LNG.

Also, TotalEnergies and Mitsui & Co will offtake a combined 2.5 mtpa of LNG from the facility under 20-year deals.

In August 2024, Sempra Infrastructure announced that its ECA LNG export project had experienced labor and productivity challenges.

Sempra said at the time that it expected mechanical completion and first LNG to occur in 2025, with the timing of commercial operations under the sales and purchase agreements targeted for spring 2026.