Regulators OK offshore LNG plan
chron.com
El Paso's project to pump gas ashore
By LAURA GOLDBERG
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 16, 2004, 12:41AM
El Paso Corp.'s plans to build on offshore liquefied natural gas port won approval Thursday from federal regulators.
The U.S. Maritime Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, gave the go-ahead for El Paso to build its natural gas deep-water port 116 miles off Louisiana.
The facility will basically be a buoy attached to a flexible steel pipe. When it's not in use, it will rest near the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. But after a tanker approaches, the device will rise to the surface.
Once the tanker is docked, the liquid natural gas it is carrying will be converted into gas on the ship and pumped through the buoy into subsea pipelines.
"This new facility will improve efficiency by eliminating the need for a carrier to come all the way into a shore-side port and save money in the process," U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, said in a prepared statement.
Houston-based El Paso is the owner and operator.
"We are pleased with today's announcement, and we look forward to completing the final stages of this project," El Paso spokesman Aaron Woods said.
El Paso expects to begin constructing the port during the second half of the year, with the facility expected to be running by December. Its capacity, which represents an outflow of gas, is expected to be 400 million cubic feet to 500 million cubic feet a day.
Excelerate Energy, based in the The Woodlands, is providing funding the project and will own its capacity. Excelerate has also already charted two tankers, which are now being built.
Various companies have proposed a number of LNG projects, both onshore and offshore.
On Thursday, Exxon Mobil Corp. said it had filed for a permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for an LNG terminal in San Patricio County. The terminal would have a processing capacity of 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day. |
