New Fortress Energy on Thursday disclosed it is weighing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Mexico that would be an onshore complement to its offshore project.
The disclosure by the LNG developer came in response to an Oct. 30 letter from the U.S. Department of Energy advising the company that an existing gas-export permit does not allow for an onshore facility.
The company's Fast LNG 1 project, housed on converted oil platforms off the coast of Altamira, Mexico, will be Mexico's first producing and exporting LNG facility when it starts. New Fortress has said it expects that facility to begin producing up to 1.4 million metric tons per annum this month.
"The onshore project is still in the preliminary stages of development," an attorney for New Fortress replied to the DOE. "This prospective onshore LNG export project would be in addition to the offshore project."
In an Oct. 16 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and posted on is website, New Fortress said its Fast LNG 2 was "already under construction & expected to be deployed onshore Altamira."
In its 2022 application for U.S. export approvals, New Fortress described FLNG 2 as an offshore gas liquefaction facility that would be installed on separated oil platforms in Gulf of Mexico waters near FLNG 1.
(Reuters - Reporting by Gary McWilliams; editing by David Evans)