US LNG firm New Fortress Energy expects to start production of liquefied natural gas at its first FLNG project off Altamira, Mexico in the next ten days.
The Wes Edens-led company revealed this in an update released on June 14.
According to NFE, the company has made “tremendous” progress on its path towards the start of liquefaction operations.
“As of today, the work necessary to begin operations is complete and the company has also completed the full remainder of pre-commissioning activities,” it said.
“The company now expects to produce LNG in the next 10 days, and then expects to be able to deliver its first cargo in July,” NFE said.
NFE did not provide further information.
The firm said in its first-quarter results in May that it was expecting to start production in May and to deliver first full cargo in June.
Prior to that, the company said in its fourth-quarter report in February this year it was expecting first LNG in March and first cargo in April 2024.
NFE sent its liquefaction rig Pioneer II on September 26, 2023 to Altamira to start serving the FLNG project.
Prior to this, NFE’s utilities and accommodation rig, Pioneer III, arrived off Altamira, as well as the gas treatment rig.
The FLNG project consists of three rigs, Pioneer I, II, and III.
Besides the three rigs, the 160,000-cbm Penguin FSU serves the project as a floating storage unit.
NFE’s first 1.4 mtpa FLNG asset located offshore Altamira reached mechanical completion in January this year.
In April this year, an incident took place on NFE’s rig Pioneer II during the commissioning of the cold box.
Chris Guinta, NFE’s finance chief, said during the first quarter earnings call that the “incident with a pipe fracture inside our cold box” took place on April 26.
“The pipe incident caused the boxes insulation material, a non-toxic volcanic sand called perlite, to be admitted all over the rigs,” Guinta said.