Technip wins Commonwealth LNG EPC contract

Technip Energies announced on August 4 that it had been awarded a “major” engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by the Commonwealth LNG project. The company defines a major contract as one representing revenue of more than EUR1bn ($1.16bn), though the company did not specify the exact value of the contract.

This comes as Commonwealth LNG – which is majority-owned by alternative asset manager Kimmeridge – prepares for a final investment decision (FID), targeted for the second half of 2025. Progress towards this milestone has been evident recently as Commonwealth cleared its outstanding regulatory hurdles earlier this year, as well as signing up offtakers. As of mid-June, 4mn tonnes per year (tpy) of offtake from Commonwealth LNG were covered by long-term contracts, out of a total capacity of 9.5mn tpy at the planned facility. Commonwealth is continuing to seek new offtakers.

The announcement on Technip’s EPC award provides more information on the design of the Commonwealth facility. Technip said its contract covered the delivery of six identical liquefaction trains using its SnapLNG by T.EN modular and scalable technology. A single design will be replicated across all six trains, with the company saying SnapLNG by T.EN would enable schedule acceleration and cost optimisation, while also offering “greater predictability and certainty at scale”.

The award of the EPC contract comes after Technip completed the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase of the project. The company said the award further strengthened its position as a global leader in LNG, noting that it has delivered over 20% of the world’s operating LNG capacity and highlighting its efforts to pioneer modular and innovative project delivery models.

“Technip Energies has been a valuable partner to Commonwealth, shares our commitment to operational excellence and will support our targeted production date of 2029,” stated Commonwealth’s chairman and Kimmeridge managing partner Ben Dell in Commonwealth’s own announcement on the award.

Commonwealth’s president and CEO, Farhad Ahrabi, added that the EPC contract included a limited notice to proceed with construction on the project. Full notice to proceed is typically issued when FID is taken.

“Utilising Technip Energies’ fully modular approach to construction as compared to the commonly used stick-built LNG facilities being developed in the US will enable us to ensure first-class project execution with certainty of outcome on both cost and schedule for all our stakeholders,” Ahrabi said.