US LNG firm Tellurian will soon start works on preparing the construction site for its planned Driftwood project in Louisiana, according to the firm’s co-founder and executive chairman Charif Souki.
“We already have some people on the ground looking at the things we need to do this summer,” Souki said in a video posted on YouTube on Tuesday.
Souki said that Tellurian has to complete three things to prepare the site for full construction but prior to that, the firm needs to sign a long-term lease with the port authority where the LNG facility would be located.
He expects Tellurian to sign the agreement soon.
To get the site ready for construction, Tellurian would need to work on widening a state highway in order to accommodate about 5,000 workers that would come once Bechtel starts working on the project, Souki said.
“The second thing we have to do is to relocate a pipeline that crosses the property now,” he said.
In addition, Souki said that the firm also needs to do some soil preparation as the ground is “extremely wet”, prior to the arrival of heavy equipment at the site.
That work would take about six to nine months, according to Souki.
Pricing refresh
Tellurian also plans to refresh the pricing in its deal with contractor Bechtel for the project.
Souki said this would take place in the fall and it would last for about 90 days.
“I don’t expect much change in the pricing,” Souki said.
To remind, Driftwood has a preliminary $15.5 billion lump-sum turn key engineering, procurement and construction contract with Bechtel.
Souki confirmed that the firm plans to give notice to proceed to Bechtel in the first quarter of next year.
Tellurian has recently signed two agreements with Vitol and Gunvor. Combined the two deals represent an aggregate of $24 billion in revenue and six mtpa of contracted volumes over the ten-year period.
The firm plans to build the proposed 27.6 mtpa Driftwood project in two phases. The first phase would have a capacity of 16.6 mtpa. This phase could go online in 2025.
New Driftwood pipeline
In a separate statement on Tuesday, Tellurian said its unit Driftwood Pipeline filed a formal application with US FERC to build a new 37-mile pipeline.
The pipeline would originate near Ragley in Beauregard Parish and end near Carlyss in Calcasieu Parish, where the LNG export terminal would be located.
As part of the design, Driftwood Pipeline is proposing to deploy Baker Hughes-supplied electric-driven compression, thereby reducing the pipeline’s carbon dioxide emissions by more than 99%, the statement said.
The proposed pipeline project, coupled with other strategic steps Tellurian is taking, would lead to nearly a one million tonne reduction per year in direct greenhouse gas emissions, it said.