ECA LNG in Mexico Starts Production

Sempra Infrastructure has begun production at ECA LNG in Ensenada, Mexico, with commercial operations expected to launch in a few months.

"ECA LNG Phase 1 is expected to reach substantial completion in the summer of 2026 with sales under long-term sale and purchase agreements commencing shortly thereafter, when the facility begins commercial operations", Houston, Texas-based Sempra Infrastructure, part of utility holding company Sempra, said in an online statement.

"A second phase is also under development at the same site".

ECA LNG Phase 1, a joint venture with TotalEnergies SE, has a nameplate capacity of 3.25 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of LNG. In 2019 the United States Department of Energy issued the project a permit to export gas to Mexico and other countries with which Washington has a free trade agreement (FTA), and another authorization to re-export U.S.-sourced gas in liquefied form from the Mexican facility to nations that do not have an FTA with the U.S.

Located on Mexico's Pacific coast, the project is designed to deliver U.S. gas to Asia-Pacific markets through the shortest shipping route, reducing costs & transit times, according to Sempra Infrastructure.

Phase 1, which reached a final investment decision 2020, is backed by 20-year customer agreements with TotalEnergies and Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd. The two companies have committed to buying a combined 2.5 MMtpa of LNG, according to Sempra Infrastructure.

"ECA LNG Phase 1 is a cornerstone of Sempra Infrastructure's dual-coast LNG portfolio. With projects along the U.S. Gulf Coast and Mexico's Pacific Coast, Sempra Infrastructure offers customers the flexibility and reliability needed to meet growing demand", it said.

Phase 2 is also permitted to re-export U.S.-sourced gas from Mexico to non-FTA countries, as announced by Sempra Infrastructure December 22, 2022.

"The proposed ECA LNG Phase 2 is expected to be comprised of two trains and one LNG storage tank and produce approximately 12 Mtpa [million metric tons per annum] of export capacity", it said at the time.

In a separate project Sempra Infrastructure's Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 last year marked the resumption of federal permitting for LNG export to non-FTA countries, following a pause by the Biden administration.

Phase 2, which will consist of trains 2 and 4, is authorized to export the equivalent of 698 billion cubic feet a year of natural gas, or about 13.5 MMtpa of LNG according to Sempra, to FTA and non-FTA countries on a non-additive basis. Sempra received the FTA portion of the permit July 2020.

Phase 1, which consists of trains 1 and 2, had received a permit to export the same volume to FTA and non-FTA countries. Sempra expects to start up trains 1 and 2 in 2027 and 2028 respectively.

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