Baker Hughes receives equipment awards for Sabine Pass LNG expansion

Baker Hughes said this week that it had received three awards to supply equipment for the upcoming expansion of Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG project. The awards include orders from Cheniere and its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, Bechtel Energy, to supply liquefaction equipment for Train 7 and for a boil-off gas (BOG) re-liquefaction unit. One of the awards covers fleet-wide gas turbine technology upgrades.

Baker Hughes did not disclose the value of the awards but described them as substantial.

In a July 9 announcement, Baker Hughes said the equipment orders for Phase 1 of the Sabine Pass expansion project included seven PGT25+ G4 gas turbines driving 15 centrifugal compressors. These are expected to enable the addition of roughly 6mn tonnes per year (tpy) of new LNG production capacity at Sabine Pass.

The firm will also carry out upgrades across the entire fleet of installed aeroderivative PGT25+ G4 gas turbines at the Sabine Pass plant over a four-year period. It said these upgrades would help to increase the power output of the turbines to enhance LNG production capabilities, helping to boost efficiency across the facility, whose current capacity is around 30mn tpy. These upgrades, together with Train 7 and the BOG re-liquefaction unit, are expected to add over 6mn tpy of capacity at Sabine Pass, Baker Hughes added.

The Sabine Pass expansion project is anticipated to add up to 20mn tpy of capacity to Sabine Pass LNG in total. Phase 1 entails the addition of Train 7 and the BOG re-liquefaction unit and compressor. Phase 2 will entail the addition of Trains 8 and 9, each also with a peak capacity of around 6mn tpy, as well as capabilities to facilitate simultaneous LNG loading to two of the three berths at Sabine Pass. A ground flare system, three new BOG compressors and other associated support infrastructure will also be added during Phase 2.

Cheniere awarded Bechtel the EPC contract for the first phase of the Sabine Pass expansion in June and is targeting a final investment decision (FID) on this phase by early 2027. Bechtel has been the EPC contractor for all phases to date at both of Cheniere’s LNG terminals, Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi.