NorthAmOil: Gulf Coast LNG projects inch forward

The developers of two new LNG export projects on the US Gulf Coast have said over the past week that they are making progress towards final investment decisions (FIDs) that are scheduled for later this year.
At the Citi Global Energy & Utilities Virtual Conference last week, Tellurian's executive chairman, Charif Souki, said the company was now “just weeks” from finishing the commercialisation of Phase One at its Driftwood LNG terminal in Louisiana.
Separately, NextDecade said in a new investor presentation on its website that it was progressing commercial negotiations with "multiple counterparties" to enable an FID in 2021 on two trains at Rio Grande LNG.
This comes after both NextDecade and Tellurian had to push back FIDs in 2020 amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Both companies have also suffered setbacks in talks with potential buyers. In Tellurian’s case, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India’s Petronet LNG expired without a deal being finalised, while NextDecade saw France’s Engie pull out of talks, reportedly under pressure from the French government over the use of shale gas as feedstock.
Now, both companies are hopeful that their fortunes will turn around. Souki said he expected Tellurian to sell 12-15mn tonnes per year (tpy) of supply "totally on Zoom". He has also been cited by media as saying Tellurian is in advanced talks with four or five LNG buyers for volumes that it is marketing on its own – not including those volumes that would be covered by equity partners the company has been soliciting.
NextDecade, meanwhile, has been seeking to bolster its environmental credentials, and now touts Rio Grande LNG as the “greenest LNG project in the world” thanks to a plan to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure for the facility’s emissions.