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Sempra Signs LNG Pact, Terminal to Open in 2008
http://www.sandiego.com/sdbusiness.jsp?id=399
10/14/2004
by Larry M Edwards
SAN DIEGO -- Sempra Energy subsidiary Sempra Energy LNG has signed a 20-year deal with Shell International Gas Ltd. to supply the Dutch company with
500 million cubic feet a day of natural gas beginning in 2008.
The LNG supply for the Shell capacity will come from the Sakhalin II project in eastern Russia, where Shell is the largest shareholder.
"For the first time, LNG from Russia will supply Mexico and California," said Catherine Tanna, director of Shell Gas & Power's Americas and Africa
unit.
The deal gives Sempra the green light to begin building the controversial liquefied natural gas regasification terminal planned for Baja California,
Mexico.
On Tuesday, Sempra announced a similar 20-year agreement for BP Plc and Tangguh LNG to provide 500 million cubic feet a day of natural gas from
Indonesia.
The combination brings the processing facility to full capacity, allowing construction to proceed. The facility will have an initial processing
capacity of 1 billion cubic feet per day. About half of the supply will go to Mexico markets and about half to U.S. markets to supplement dwindling
North American sources.
The natural gas will shipped to the terminal by ships in a liquefied state, then returned to a gaseous state prior to distribution.
Sempra had initially planned to begin construction of the terminal this year and begin operations in 2007, but the construction was delayed until the
supply contracts were signed, the company said.
The Energia Costa Azul terminal will be located about 14 miles north of Ensenada and will be the first LNG project on North America's West Coast.
Environmental groups have opposed the facility, claiming it could endanger marine life, particularly the endangered gray whales, which migrate
southward along the Baja coast each winter.
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Sempra to supply LNG from Indonesia
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20041013-9999-1b...
Liquefied gas to go to Baja project with Shell
By Diane Lindquist
October 13, 2004
Sempra Energy LNG announced yesterday that it has signed an agreement that will provide supplies of liquefied natural gas from Indonesia to an energy
project it plans to develop with Shell Oil Co. in Baja California.
The agreement appears to put Sempra ahead of global energy firms in the competition to be the first to deliver LNG to the west coasts of Baja
California and California.
Under the 20-year contract with BP and Tangguh LNG, a group of mostly Japanese energy firms, Sempra Energy LNG would receive 3.7 million tons of LNG
per year, or 500 million cubic feet of natural gas a day.
The gas from fields beneath a remote jungle of West Papua, Indonesia, would be liquefied and shipped in tankers to a Sempra-Shell receiving terminal
at the Costa Azul plateau north of Ensenada. There, it would be regasified and delivered by pipeline to natural gas customers in Baja California,
California and Arizona.
Sempra Energy LNG expects to start building its Energ?a Costa Azul project in the first part of next year and receive its first shipments from
Indonesia in 2008.
"This landmark agreement represents a significant, positive step forward for LNG projects in North America and Asia," Sempra Energy President and
Chief Operating Officer Donald E. Felsinger said in a statement. "The agreement enables the further development of the first new LNG receipt terminal
along North America's West Coast, while allowing a new LNG supply project to move forward in Indonesia."
Parties to the pact declined to reveal the agreement's value. An industry expert who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the
information said it could amount to $700 million a year, or a total of $14 billion over the 20-year contract period.
Shell is negotiating its separate supply contracts. A company representative was not available for comment.
The Sempra-Shell receiving terminal, like four other projects proposed on or off the shores of California and Baja California, has generated
controversy, especially from nearby communities and non-governmental groups.
Opponents say the industrial projects, which include breakwaters, piers, storage tanks and regasification facilities, will harm plant, animal and sea
life and could be targets of terrorist attacks. Some environmentalists argue that the introduction of LNG will commit the region to continued use of
fossil fuels instead of renewable energy sources.
Energy industry executives and insiders say they will take all precautions to protect the environment. They counter that LNG, which will be mainly
used to fuel new or converted power plants, will improve the region's air quality. And they insist that LNG is essential to filling the growing
demands of one of the world's most energy-hungry regions.
"It's clear that LNG is projected to play a more important role in terms of natural gas supplies," said John Felmy, chief economist at the American
Petroleum Institute.
Usage of liquefied natural gas is projected to grow fourfold or more over the next 20 years, he noted. Only four LNG regasification terminals exist in
the United States, all in the East, but scores are proposed.
"It's an important agreement which shows that LNG can play that role," Felmy said.
Liquefied natural gas also is taking on more importance for Sempra Energy. Besides the project in Baja California, the San Diego company plans to
develop receiving terminals at Lake Charles, La., and Port Arthur, Texas. No supply agreements have been struck for those projects.
"LNG from Tangguh is a perfect match for Energ?a Costa Azul because the gas meets the region's stringent gas-quality standards without requiring
further processing or modification," said Sempra Energy LNG president Darcel Hulse.
Felsinger said the Tangguh gas will help put downward pressure on gas prices. The contract provides for pricing tied to the index set by Southern
California Natural Gas Co., a Sempra Energy utility.
About half of supplies are expected to be sold in California and Arizona and half in Mexico.
Though Sempra is the first of the North American West Coast contenders to secure its supply agreement, the company is far from winning the
competition.
The only other company planning a project in Baja California is ChevronTexaco, which wants to put its receiving terminal off the Coronado Islands.
In California, Australian energy company BHP Billiton plans to sink a platform off the Ventura County coast, and Houston-based Crystal Energy proposes
to put a terminal on an abandoned oil platform in the same area. The Japanese energy giant Mitsubishi seeks to put its terminal onshore at Long Beach
Harbor.
Any could jump ahead in the complex and costly process of securing a supply and delivery chain to get LNG to the market.
Mexican federal and local agencies have granted Sempra the permits needed to build the receiving terminal at Costa Azul, but the status of legal
challenges brought by Roberto Valdes, the developer of the adjacent Bajamar golf resort, remain murky.
Sempra has supplied The San Diego Union-Tribune with a copy of a Mexican court document indicating that a preliminary injunction against the project
has been dropped. Valdes concedes the injunction was dismissed but contends at least one issued by a separate court remains in effect.
"To our knowledge, there are no legal impediments or injunctions affecting the project. And it will be going forward," Sempra spokesman Art Larson
said yesterday. "Any reports to the contrary that there's an injunction, in our view, would be inaccurate."
Officials from the Mexican environmental agency, Semarnat, have not responded to requests for information about the status of a key permit the agency
issued.
Ian Stuart, a spokesman for BP, said the corporation was aware of the litigation controversy when it made the Tangguh agreement, which must be
approved by the parties' boards before the end of this year.
"We're confident the project is viable," Stuart said.
Nevertheless, the agreement will be highly flexible in nature, allowing LNG cargoes to be diverted to capture value in other markets while providing
substantial base volumes and revenue to the Sempra Energy LNG terminal.
Bill Powers, a leading critic of the Sempra plan and other LNG projects, said another factor is that the California Public Utilities Commission has
been asked to reconsider its approval of gas importation from Mexico.
"The PUC, if upon opening this to further evidence, could determine that this does not represent a beneficial diversification of natural gas supplies.
Then the Sempra project would not have access to California markets," Powers said.
The global environmental watchdog Greenpeace, which has campaigned against both the Sempra-Shell and ChevronTexaco projects, contends that BP and
Tangguh LNG might encounter problems delivering supplies from West Papua, some 7,000 miles away.
"The community that's impacted is one that relies on subsistence agriculture and fishing," said John Coequyt, a Greenpeace organizer. "Now, there's a
big energy project plopped down there. It's been very controversial."
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elgatoloco
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Registered: 11-19-2002
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The diference in the coastline south of La Salina and continuing thru the Bajamar area and beyond is that it is ALL volcanic rocky shoreline,no sand.
Also the water is VERY deep (60+ feet) right off shore. When we play golf down there in Jan,Feb,March we ALWAYS see mother whales with babies cruise
right by on the inside of the kelp beds, so close that you could hit them with a 9 iron. I suspect that do to the LNG plants proximity to the south
that they will be driven offshore. It's a big ocean,enjoy it while you can.
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