More Construction Issues Reported at Golden Pass – Three Things to Know About the LNG Market

By Jamison Cocklin

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NO. 1: The Zachry Group told its hourly construction workers in an email this week not to show up at the Golden Pass LNG site in Texas until further notice. 

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The company said in a statement it was working through “temporary constraints” at the site, while media reports said there was a fuel shortage for work. The plant is being built by a joint venture that includes Chiyoda Corp., McDermott and the Zachry Group. 

Reports surfaced last month that a shortage of skilled workers and other construction issues could push the start of liquefied natural gas production at the 18 million metric tons/year (mmty) facility further into 2025. ExxonMobil, which is developing the project with QatarEnergy, said late last year exports would begin in early 2025 instead of 2024 as the partners had long signaled. 

Golden Pass filed a revised commissioning schedule at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday and the project requested that the information included not be released to the public. 

NO. 2: The Cedar LNG project being developed in British Columbia (BC) announced this week that it still expects to reach a final investment decision (FID) by mid-year.

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The 3 mmty project, which is being developed by the Haisla Nation and Pembina Pipeline Corp., agreed to supply 1.5 mmty of LNG to Arc Resources Ltd. Pembina has also agreed to purchase 1.5 mmty of LNG. 

“Commercial discussions are continuing with multiple other customers as Pembina intends to assign its capacity to a third-party following a positive FID,” Cedar said in a project update. 

The first 14 mmty stage of LNG Canada and the 2.1 mmty Woodfibre LNG projects are also under construction in BC. 

NO. 3: Cheniere Energy Inc. has planned maintenance next month on the 21.5-mile pipeline feeding its Corpus Christi liquefaction facility in South Texas. 

According to a notice from the 2.75 Bcf/d Corpus Christi Pipeline, work on its Sinto Compressor Station is scheduled to begin June 10 and last for 12 days. Flows on the system would be reduced by 120 MMcf/d to 2.63 Bcf/d during that time. 

Cheniere, the largest U.S. LNG producer, reassured the market last week when management said during the company’s first quarter earnings call it does not expect extended maintenance outages this summer.  

CEO Jack Fusco said maintenance at the company’s export plants would be spread more “strategically” across the calendar to limit impacts.

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Jamison Cocklin

Jamison Cocklin joined the staff of NGI in November 2013 to cover the Appalachian Basin. He was appointed Senior Editor, LNG in October 2019, and then to Managing Editor, LNG in February 2024. Prior to joining NGI, he worked as a business and energy reporter at the Youngstown Vindicator, covering the regional economy and the Utica Shale play. He also served as a city reporter at the Bangor Daily News and did freelance work for the Associated Press. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science from the University of Maine.