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Karen Sedgwick, Sempra’s executive VP and CFO, provided an update on this project and the Port Arthur LNG project during Sempra’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.
Sedgwick said the ECA LNG project is “over 95 percent complete and pre-commissioning activities are ongoing.”
“Certain systems have moved into the commissioning phase. And we’re currently working on repairing an auxiliary turbine designed to increase efficiency,” she said.
“Based on progress at the site, we continue to expect first LNG production in the spring of 2026 with commissioning cargoes expected to commence thereafter,” Sedgwick said.
Sempra Infrastructure, a unit of Sempra in which the latter is reducing its ownership to 25 percent, and France’s TotalEnergies are adding 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 mechanical completion and first LNG are expected to occur in 2025, with timing of commercial operations under the sales and purchase agreements targeted for spring 2026.
Port Arthur LNG
In October, Sempra Infrastructure took a final investment decision on the second phase of the Port Arthur LNG project.
Including the first 13 mtpa phase, for which Sempra Infrastructure took FID in March 2023, the facility will have a total capacity of about 26 mtpa.
Sedgwick said that Port Arthur LNG Phase One continues to make “notable headway with Train 1 expected to reach COD in 2027.”
“We’re on schedule and on budget, with over one-third of the piping installation complete on Train 1,” she said.
“Recently, we also completed the Tank A roof air raise, which is another important milestone for the project,” Sedgwick said.
“Earlier in the quarter, you’ll recall that we also reached FID at Port Arthur Phase 2, and issued a full notice to proceed under our fixed price EPC contract with Bechtel,” she noted.
Sedgwick said this is “important because it gives us the opportunity to leverage continuous construction at the site and reduce project risk.”
“To date, we’ve placed all high-value orders for long lead plant equipment, and also completed the project’s first permanent piles for Tank C and Train 3,” she said.
“I’ll also add that the value proposition of Sempra Infrastructure’s LNG franchise continues to grow, as the European Council recently backed the EU’s proposal to end deliveries of pipeline gas and LNG from Russia by 2027,” Sedgwick said.
