British gas producer BG Group Plc said it had started up the second production facility, or train, of its Egyptian liquefied natural gas (LNG) project nine months ahead of schedule.

BG managing director for the Mediterranean Basin and Africa, Stuart Fysh, said the early startup would have a “very substantial” financial impact.
“We are commencing production at a time of historically high American gas prices so the benefit is not just getting the cash earlier, it actually turns out we’re also getting a hell of a lot more cash than we expected,” Fysh said.
He declined to forecast the precise earnings impact. He added the overall project, covering both trains, was being completed within the $1.9 billion budget.
The speedy development of Train 2 was due to good labour relations, BG’s ability to hire the expertise it needed locally and the bringing to bear of experience BG gained in developing LNG trains elsewhere in the world in recent years, Fysh said.
BG and a subsidiary of project partner Petronas of Malaysia, will lift the first cargoes later this year and Fysh said there was a high probability these could go to its Lake Charles regasification terminal in Louisiana.
Train 2’s output is expected to be 3.6 million tonnes per year.
It will be supplied with gas from the Sapphire field, where Fysh said production would start “very imminently,” as BG had indicated.