PDVSA increases LNG project scope to three trains

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA plans to build three liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains, company president and oil and energy minister Rafael Ramírez said at the Latin American Petroleum Show in Maracaibo. BNamericas reports that the company previously said it was developing two trains and considering a third at the Cigma liquefaction facility under development near the Delta Caribe Oriental offshore blocks. Exports would start by 2014, according to PDVSA. California-based Chevron, which has stakes in the Plataforma Deltana projects that will help supply the project with gas, is involved in one of the trains, Ramírez said. Argentina's state oil company Enarsa and Portugal's Galp also are participating in the trains. Japanese engineering firms are expected to participate, and France's Total, Norway's StatoilHydro and an Iranian company also are thought to be involved in the project, according to various sources. The first train will use gas from PDVSA's Mariscal Sucre field, which PDVSA plans to develop alone. The second will use gas from the Plataforma Deltana's Block 2. Chevron has a 60 percent stake in Deltana's Block 2, although PDVSA can buy an increased share in the block when commerciality is declared. LNG from the facility would go to both 'strategic' markets in Latin America, as well as other markets with traditionally more lucrative LNG prices, according to PDVSA.