New Fortress Energy starts maintenance on Mexico LNG platform, progresses in Brazil

US energy company New Fortress Energy said its US$2bn liquefied natural gas (LNG) offshore project in Mexico is undergoing maintenance before reaching full production later this month.

The facility in the Gulf of Mexico, which New Fortress Energy has dubbed Fast LNG 1 or FLNG1, consists of a 1.4Mt/y offshore liquefaction system. 

The offshore platform transferred its first partial cargo of LNG onto a ship on Friday morning, company chair and CEO Wes Edens said the same day on a conference call on NFE’s second quarter earnings.

"We will now shut down the unit for approximately a week for planned maintenance," Edens said. "We expect to achieve full production levels shortly thereafter."

The completion of FLNG1 means that financing is now complete for a second FLNG facility at an onshore site in Altamira, if New Fortress Energy decides to expand the project. 

In northern Brazil, the Ceiba 630MW combined cycle plant that the company is constructing is now 70% complete and will start commercial operations in July 2025. 

Also in Brazil, North Fortress Energy has started pouring the foundations of its Portocem 1600MW power plant. Andrade Gutierrez is the constructor and Mitsubishi is supplying the gas turbines.

Andrew Dete, managing director of NFE, said on the call that construction of the project was running ahead of the schedule of starting commercial operations in the second half of 2026.