[Mexico] Altamira Fast LNG 1

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Altamira Fast LNG 1 brings positive energy to Mexico

New Fortress Energy is powering Mexico with positive energy

In 2021, we began developing ways to use FLNG (Floating Liquefied Natural Gas) technology, and now, with our modular approach to FLNG, we’re setting sail with our proprietary Fast LNG solution.

Our first Fast LNG installation, FLNG 1, is deployed in Altamira, Mexico, in partnership with CFE, Mexico’s state-owned electric utility. The project will liquefy gas supplied by the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline and will help create a new FLNG hub off the east coast of Mexico.

This is a major milestone for the world of LNG and we're excited to play our part to bring cleaner, reliable and more affordable energy solutions to Mexico.

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First 'Fast' LNG Project Offshore Mexico Reaches Milestone

New Fortress Energy said its newly converted jackup facility has sailed for waters offshore Mexico where it plans to produce 1.4 mtpa of LNG.

July 31 2023

New Fortress Energy is one step closer to the realization of its first “Fast LNG” project offshore Mexico.

The company confirmed that the NFE Pioneer III—a converted jackup rig—began its transit across the Gulf of Mexico on Friday from the Kiewit Offshore Services shipyard in Ingleside, Texas, to Altamira, Mexico. The accommodation and operations unit is one of three retrofitted jackups that will be used to liquefy up to 1.4 mtpa of natural gas, but not from subsea wells. In this project, the gas will be supplied via a subsea pipeline originating in Texas.

The Pioneer III will host the project’s main control room along with three industrial gas turbines that will power the entire offshore liquefaction facility. The jackup also has living quarters for around 80 personnel.

New Fortress called the transit “a huge milestone” for its Fast LNG concept which it designed to quickly monetize otherwise stranded-gas assets around the world. The New York-based energy company committed to the idea in 2021 when it purchased two jackup rigs for $31 million from Maersk Drilling and said they would be repurposed to host gas liquefaction equipment. The company has since announced plans to construct four additional fast LNG facilities.

New Fortress said in June that operations at Altamira would begin in the third quarter of the year after it received approval for an export permit from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy for up to 7.8 million metric tons through 2028. New Fortress, which described the permit as “the final piece of the puzzle,” had previously hoped to achieve first production as early as March of this year.

The nearly $1-billion project at Altamira will be followed by two other 1.4-mtpa LNG units that New Fortress is constructing in Texas. All three units are part of an agreement the company finalized last year with Mexico state power and gas utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE). The deal gives CFE a share of the production from the offshore LNG facility while committing New Fortress to using CFE’s firm capacity from TC Energy’s Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Pipeline.

The next set of LNG trains will use a similar blueprint as the first which includes standardized liquefaction and gas treatment modules that are assembled at a shipyard. New Fortress has said that each LNG train takes up to 16 months to build and between 4 to 6 additional months to complete installation and commissioning.

While initially planned to be deployed on fixed-leg platforms, New Fortress said in May the next two units will instead be installed onshore at the Altamira gas terminal with operations expected to begin by the second half of next year. Mirroring a trend that began in the US a decade ago, the onshore facility was originally built in 2006 as an LNG import terminal but has since undergone a conversion to support exports.

New Fortress is also developing a Fast LNG project in partnership with Mexico’s state-owned oil company Pemex at the Lakach gas field. The host facility for the 1.1-Tcf deepwater project offshore Veracruz, Mexico, is the Sevan Driller, a circular hull drilling unit that is undergoing conversion in Singapore.

Additionally, New Fortress is seeking regulatory approvals for an LNG project off the coast of Louisiana. The proposed project would be located 16 miles offshore Louisiana and involve two 1.4-mtpa LNG units along with an LNG floating storage unit to support high-volume exports to global markets.

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NFE’s final Altamira FLNG rig on way to Mexico

27 Sept 2023

New Fortress Energy’s liquefaction rig, Pioneer II, is on its way to Mexico’s Altamira where it is expected to start serving the company’s first FLNG project next month.

Wes Edens-led NFE announced the sail away of the rig early on Wednesday.

The jackup rig set sail under tow from the Kiewit Offshore Services shipyard in Ingleside, near Corpus Christi, Texas.

According to the AIS data from the vessels which are towing Pioneer II, the rig departed the yard on Tuesday and is expected to arrive off Altamira during the weekend.

Following arrival off Altamira, the rig will meet Pioneer I and III, completing all the rigs for NFE’s Fast LNG 1 unit, NFE said.

“Pioneer II receives clean natural gas from Pioneer I, the gas treatment rig, then liquefies the gas and transfers the LNG to the floating storage unit (FSU),” it said.

NFE added that the next milestone is the first gas supplies from the $1.3 billion project, but the firm did not provide any additional information.

Prior to this, NFE’s utilities and accommodation rig, Pioneer III, arrived off Altamira last month.

In early June, the US LNG firm received an export permit for its Altamira Fast LNG facility from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (SENER).

Under the permit, NFE is authorized to export up to 7.8 million metric tons through April, 2028, providing ample capacity to support the operations of the 1.4 million tons per annum Fast LNG facility through the permitted period, it said.

Chris Guinta, NFE’s finance chief said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call last month that the company had expected to introduce first gas in September and sell the first LNG cargo in October.

Guinta said at the time that NFE had planned to install Pioneer I around August 23 and Pioneer II around August 28.

He also said that the 160,000-cbm Penguin FSU, which will serve the project as a floating storage unit, was on its way to Altamira.

Penguin’s AIS data showed on Wednesday that the vessel was anchored at Jamaica’s Portland Bight, not far from the 170,000-cbm Hoegh Gallant FSRU which serves NFE’s offshore Old Harbour facility.