This story requires a subscription
This includes a single user license.
In May this year, Gato Negro Permitium Uno sought long-term authorization from the DOE to export US natural gas via pipeline to the planned liquefaction plant in Manzanillo, Mexico.
Gato Negro requested authorization to export via pipeline initially to Mexico up to 0.647 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day of natural gas, and ultimately re-export for delivery to any country that has signed a free trade agreement with the US up to 0.556 Bcf/d of LNG.
Houston-based Big River Energy, an affiliate of Gato Negro, was granted authority by DOE in December 2022 to export natural gas to Mexico for a two-year term by pipeline.
Big River has also applied for authority to export LNG to Mexico by truck through 2030.
Gato Negro is based in Mexico and is 50/50 owned by Carlos Camacho and Emilio Fuentes, both of whom are citizens of Mexico.
Non-FTA
Gato Negro Permitium Dos is now requesting “expeditious” long-term authorization to export via pipeline initially to Mexico up to 0.647 Bcf per day of natural gas, and ultimately re-export for delivery to any country that has not signed a free trade agreement with the US up to 0.556 Bcf/d of LNG, according to a DOE filling dated August 21.
The company proposes to export the LNG by vessel from its proposed liquefaction and export terminal project, Gato Negro Manzanillo LNG plant, to be located in the State of Colima, Manzanillo, Mexico.
The authorization is requested for a term extending through December 31, 2050.
Gato requests this authorization on its own behalf and as agent for other parties who hold title to the LNG supplies at the time of export.
Worth mentioning here, the Biden administration and the DOE announced in January this year that the DOE will temporarily pause review and approval of all new and pending applications for export authorization to non-FTA countries while DOE updates its assessment process.
A federal district judge in Louisiana recently blocked this decision.
Manzanillo LNG plant
Gato Negro Permitium Dos said the liquefaction will occur at an approximately 24.7 acre site, controlled by its affiliates, in Manzanillo.
The major components that will be constructed as part of the project include up to four liquefaction trains capable of producing up to about 4 mmta of LNG, a gas pretreatment unit for removal of Mercury, acid gas, water, and natural gas liquids, and a jetty.
Moreover, feed gas for the project will be supplied through the TC Energy Guadalajara Manzanillo pipeline.
Gato Negro said the project will use a modular structure employing a refrigerant technology process.
Besides loading LNG to vessels, the Manzanillo plant will include a truck rack in case some proportion of the natural gas volumes would be resold and consumed in Mexico.
Gato Negro said the Manzanillo plant’s location will “benefit signatories to non-FTA countries.”
LNG from Manzanillo will not need to transit the potential bottleneck of the Panama Canal that other LNG supplies from the US Gulf Coast may experience when headed into the Pacific, it said.
Gato Negro plans on exporting natural gas to non-FTA countries through the duration of its term of the authorization requested, by negotiating and entering into one or more supply agreements of various durations with natural gas producers and marketers in production areas in Texas.
However, the company has not entered into any long-term natural gas supply contracts with producers or marketers as of the date of this application, it said.