New Fortress to sign agreement next week for natural gas project in Lakach field

the american New Fortress Energy expects to sign an agreement with the Mexican government next week for the development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) associated with the Lakach offshore gas field, a company official said Wednesday.

A project of 1,790 million dollars of Pemex to develop the Lakach deepwater natural gas field, which had been abandoned, was approved in October by the National Hydrocarbons Commission in the first session chaired by its newly appointed boss.

The field, in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, has gas reserves of up to 937,000 million cubic feet, but its high costs have hampered its development.

Mexico is now trying to bring in a partner to share the investment probably through a service contract – a formula used before the country opened up its energy sector with the 2013/14 reform – mainly to build LNG infrastructure and be able to export gas.

Construction of the Lakach LNG plant is expected to be completed in April 2024 with commissioning in the middle of that year, New Fortress CFO said, Christopher Guintaduring a gas conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The Lakach plant will be the third for the liquefaction of New Fortress in Mexicofollowing the two floating LNG facilities that will be established near the Altamira port, on the Gulf coast, next year.

Last month, New Fortress said it had closed deals with the Federal electricity commission (CFE) as part of an alliance promoted by the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to make better use of Mexico’s gas transportation infrastructure, increase domestic production, and eventually export LNG.

The agreements include the expansion of gas supply from New Fortress to CFE power plants, the sale of the New Fortress power plant in La Paz to CFE and the creation of the new floating LNG processing center off the coast. of Altamira.

In recent years, the CFE has renegotiated several gas and electric power transport contracts after foreign companies filed arbitration cases and claims against it for not complying with contractual terms.