BHGE Gets Calcasieu Pass Project

Baker Hughes, a GE company, announced that it has been awarded a contract and granted notice to proceed on the construction of its comprehensive LNG technology solution for Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass project, an LNG export facility in southwestern Louisiana’s Cameron Parish, less than 50 miles south of Lake Charles. No financial details were provided.

The final notice to proceed (FNTP) follows Venture Global’s Final Investment Decision and Financial Close for Calcasieu Pass and is part of the companies’ previously announced supply agreement. The agreement includes BHGE’s modular liquefaction trains, and power generation and electrical distribution equipment for the Calcasieu Pass Project.

The 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) Calcasieu Pass facility will employ a comprehensive process solution from BHGE that utilizes mid-scale, modular, factory-fabricated liquefaction trains. Venture Global has executed an integrated turnkey Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract with Kiewit to design, engineer, construct, commission, test and guarantee facility.

“By providing innovative LNG technology solutions to projects such as Calcasieu Pass, BHGE is continuing to help unlock the potential of natural gas,” said Rod Christie, BHGE president and CEO, Turbomachinery & Process Solutions. “As global energy demand continues to grow and with it an increasing focus on energy transition in the coming decades, we will see more adoption of gas solutions in the energy mix, making the availability, flexibility and cost of natural gas important factors in shaping the future of energy.”

Venture Global Co-CEOs Bob Pender and Mike Sabel jointly stated, “Our teams have been working successfully together for years engineering, designing and now fabricating our process system. Today’s announcement allows us to complete construction of our export facility and realize our commitment to deliver U.S.-produced, low-cost energy to the world.  We look forward to continuing to execute alongside BHGE.”

Under the contract, BHGE will provide an LNG liquefaction train system (LTS) with 18 modularized compression trains across nine “blocks,” for a total nameplate capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). The modularized system offers a “plug and play” approach that enables faster installation and lower construction and operational costs. 

Key features of the Calcasieu Pass project include an LNG production and export facility with nine 1.2 million ton liquefaction blocks and two 200,000 m³ full containment LNG storage tanks. Additionally, its marine terminal will accommodate carriers up to 185,000 m³ in capacity. It will also include a lateral pipeline interconnecting with major interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines.

The projects are based on mid-scale liquefaction technology which will consist of two electrically driven 0.626 MTPA trains in each block, with nine blocks for the entire facility. The gas will flow through acid gas removal and dehydration systems before it enters the liquefiers. The ample storage capacity in the storage tanks allows Venture Global to optimize the plant output during colder periods.

The modules will be manufactured, assembled, tested and transported from BHGE’s plants in Italy. Additionally, BHGE will leverage advanced technologies from across its portfolio to deliver a comprehensive power island system (PIS) that includes power generation and electrical distribution equipment for the facility.

Equipment deliveries are expected to begin in the second half of 2020. BHGE will also provide associated field support services to assist in the oversight, installation and commissioning of the supplied equipment. These are the first contracts awarded under the master equipment supply agreement between Venture Global LNG and BHGE for 60 MTPA of production capacity.