HURRICANE DELTA SPARES SEMPRA’S LNG FACILITY

Area on Gulf Coast hit by two storms in six weeks

The $10 billion Cameron liquefied natural gas plant operated by San Diego-based Sempra Energy on the Louisiana Gulf Coast escaped damage from Hurricane Delta, officials at the facility said Monday.

Delta, which made landfall Friday night with winds of 105 mph, was the second hurricane to hit the area surrounding the plant in six weeks.

“Our Disaster Assessment Recovery Team began assessments early Saturday and determined it was safe to restart production on Sunday,” a statement from Cameron LNG's spokeswoman said. “We have resumed work to execute our plans towards achieving full production.”

Delta hit just as the Gulf Coast was recovering from extensive damage left by Hurricane Laura in late August that led to the deaths of 32 and knocked out electricity for weeks to some customers. Debris from the storm clogged ship channels in the area dotted with LNG plants like Cameron, as well as refineries and petrochemical facilities.

Just last week, S&P Global Platts quoted a dispatcher who reported that

Cameron LNG on Oct. 5 had exported its first cargo since Laura slammed into the coast.

Facilities such as Cameron take natural gas via pipeline, cool it to minus-260 degrees Fahrenheit, load the liquefied product onto specially made cargo tanks on double-hulled ships, and take the LNG to markets such as Europe and Asia.

Sempra owns 50.2 percent of Cameron LNG, and thus far the facility has shipped nearly 100 LNG cargoes totaling more than 6 million metric tons of gas to clients. Sempra expects to earn between $400 million and $450 million per year at Cameron, starting in 2021.

The Cameron spokes

woman said company officials are “working closely” with the Port of Lake Charles to assess the condition of the Calcasieu Ship Channel that provides entrance and exit to the facility for cargo ships.

Opened in 2019, the plant was built 19 feet above grade, the company said, to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. Representing sustained winds of 157 mph or higher, a Category 5 storm is the highest on the hurricane wind scale. Laura made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane; Delta was measured as Category 2.