Bechtel Energy announced July 18 that it has agreed to a firm-fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction contract for the second phase of Sempra Infrastructure’s Port Arthur, Texas LNG expansion project. The award comes four years after Bechtel signed on to deliver the first phase of the LNG project
As of March 2023, Sempra reported total capital expenditures for the first phase at $13 billion, with the Bechtel contract estimated at $10.5 billion. The value of the second phase contract was not disclosed.
The construction of the first phase of Port Arthur LNG consists of two liquefaction trains and two LNG storage tanks and associated facilities. A Bechtel press release estimated that the planned commercial operation dates for trains 1 and 2 are 2027 and 2028, respectively.
The second phase of the project will add up to two additional liquefaction trains, according to the contractor.
In late June, Sempra announced it had signed a 20-year purchase and sale agreement with Saudi Arabian oil and natural gas company Aramco for LNG from the Port Arthur terminal. In that same announcement, Sempra said the facility “has the potential to expand to a total of eight trains.”
But the project still needs export approval from the US Department of Energy.
Sempra also said it is continuing to move forward with the proposed Titan carbon sequestration project, which it said would capture carbon dioxide emitted from the Port Arthur LNG facility. The project would transport the captured CO₂ through a pipeline to an injection well more than a mile underground. The company says it started the permitting process for that project earlier this year in a filing with the US Environmental Protection Agency.
“We are excited about the opportunity to advance our partnership with Sempra Infrastructure on the Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 project,” Bechtel Energy President Paul Marsden said in a statement.
