While Golden Pass LNG is holding to previous expectations for commissioning to begin in the first half of 2025, FERC staff said the timelines could be impacted as the lead construction contractor navigates bankruptcy.
Zachry Industrial Inc. informed the Texas Workforce Commission that it has laid off about 4,400 workers assigned to the 18 million metric tons/year (mmty) export project southeast of Houston. The San Antonio-based parent company filed for bankruptcy in late May, noting “significant financial strain” from attempts to keep Golden Pass on schedule.
Zachry had taken on the role of hiring and coordinating the onsite construction staff at Golden Pass as part of a engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partnership with Chiyoda Corp. and McDermott.
The bankruptcy and layoffs have led to speculation that commissioning of the first of three trains and other critical equipment could be pushed back into the latter half of 2025.
In a recently published report of a May site inspection, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff noted the anticipated in-service timing for related pipeline expansions was “expected sometime in the first half of 2025.” That timing matches guidance from joint venture partners ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy released late last year.
However, Zachry’s bankruptcy “may impact completion timelines,” FERC staff wrote.
Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Co. (TPH) analysts in a recent note said they expect the first train at Golden Pass to come online by the end of next June, “keeping our bullish view on gas intact.” TPH also now expects trains two and three to come online in December 2025 and March 2026, respectively.
Zachry is also an EPC partner for Venture Global LNG Inc.’s Plaquemines LNG project in Louisiana. It formed a joint venture with engineering firm KBR Inc. in 2021 to construct the initial 13 mmty phase of the facility.
A Venture Global spokesperson told NGI the company doesn’t “anticipate any material impacts on execution at Plaquemines” from Zachry’s bankruptcy proceedings.
