Utility giant Sempra is in the process of reducing its ownership of Sempra Infrastructure (SI) from its current 70% controlling interest to an ownership level of just 25%. The private equity firm KKR will become the majority owner of SI when the partial divestment closes in the third quarter of 2026. Nevertheless, the current parent company gave an update on SI’s two LNG export projects. For the Port Arthur project, CEO Jeffrey Martin announced that “both Phase 1 and Phase 2 are on time and on budget.” This facility will be able to take 3.7 Bcf/d in feedgas when fully online.
However, for the LNG export facility on the Pacific coast of Mexico, Energia Costa Azul (ECA), the situation has been more complicated. Executive Vice President Justin Bird recounted how SI shipped the first cargo from ECA in July, but then discovered “damage to equipment connected to the plant’s mixed refrigerant compressors” during maintenance. They are now working with the equipment vendor and their procurement contactor on a solution and expect to reach substantial completion of the facility in the fourth quarter of 2026. ECA is much smaller than Port Arthur and is expected to take only 0.3 Bcf/d in feedgas.
As Sempra partially divests from SI, it is increasingly focusing on its utility business. This includes the Texas utility Oncor, where Sempra is expanding its transmission capability, as seen in the map above. Martin noted that ERCOT reached a record for daily electric load last month. However, the company also noted that there is increasing political opposition to long-distrance transmission lines. The transmission buildout is aimed at meeting increasing load led by data centers. The company noted ERCOT’s Batch Zero process and the large queue of potential data center projects awaiting approval.
