BP was nearing delivery of what was described as its first carbon-offset LNG cargo to Sempra’s Energia Costa Azul receiving terminal on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, the companies said July 15.
The cargo, shipped under an agreement reached between the companies, was expected to arrive July 16, they said in a joint statement. Sempra is building an LNG export facility at the site of the existing regasification terminal.
The delivery is part of a flurry of initiatives energy companies have launched over the last year to quantify or reduce their carbon emissions amid the global transition to greater use of cleaner-burning fuels. While most of the companies will continue to engage in fossil fuel production for decades to come, they hope to preserve existing business relationships and build new ones with climate-conscious customers.
BP and Sempra didn’t name the vessel carrying the carbon-offset LNG cargo; cFlow, Platts trade flow software, showed the partly laden LNG tanker Arwa Spirit and laden LNG tanker BW Helios near the Baja California peninsula.
The estimated carbon dioxide and methane emissions associated with the LNG cargo, from wellhead to discharge terminal, will be offset by retiring a corresponding amount of carbon credits, sourced from a Mexican afforestation project from BP’s portfolio, the companies said. The statement did not make clear whether all of the emissions would be offset, to render the cargo as carbon neutral.
The companies did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
It was to be the firstdelivery under BP’s new offering and Sempra’s first carbon offset LNG cargo import to Mexico.
Other energy companies have been pursuing carbon-neutral or carbon-offset cargoes, lifting gas deemed responsibly sourced or considering carbon capture and sequestration projects to curb GHG emissions.
In April, Cheniere delivered to Europe what it described as a carbon neutral LNG cargo that was supplied to Shell, a foundation customer of Cheniere’s Sabine Pass liquefaction facility in Louisiana. More recently, Shell signed a five-year agreement with PetroChina for the supply of carbon-neutral LNG.
BP has said its goal is to be a net-zero company by 2050 or sooner. Sempra has set a target to operate its existing LNG infrastructure at a GHG emissions intensity 20% less than its 2020 baseline. Aside from the BP carbon-offset cargo, the Energia Costa Azul facility will continue to receive multiple LNG cargoes each year pursuant to a long-term sales and purchase agreement involving BP and its partners in Indonesia’s Tangguh LNG.
Besides Energia Costa Azul, Sempra operates the Cameron LNG export facility in Louisiana. It has not yet sanctioned construction of an export facility it has proposed to build near Port Arthur, Texas.
