US energy infrastructure provider New Fortress Energy (NFE) has resumed production at its floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility off the coast of Altamira, Mexico.
Shortly after the start of production at NFE’s inaugural plant Fast LNG Installation, FLNG1and its first LNG cargo, transported by Energos Infrastructure Energos Princess Before the vessel was transferred from the liquefied natural gas (LNGC) carrier to the Mexican terminal for unloading, the unit was to undergo a scheduled maintenance program.
The FLNG project, which consists of three converted jack-up rigs offshore Altamira with a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes per year, was expected to be out of service for several days, but the plant should return to production mode and reach full production later this month.
According to New Fortress Energy, the scheduled maintenance outage of the 1.4 Mtpa Fast LNG-1 plant has been completed and the FLNG unit resumed production on August 19. The company stresses that the FLNG-1 unit is expected to continue its production ramp-up before reaching full production later this month.
NFE has set the course for the expansion of the project and repaid the previously announced loan of $700 million for the second plant. FLNG2Construction work is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2026. With the existing permits, the US company can export up to 7.8 million tons from the Altamira Fast LNG plant by April 2028.
The export license was granted by the Mexican Ministry of Energy (SENER) after the project received the green light from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to export liquefied natural gas from the United States to Mexico and other free trade agreement (FTA) countries.
