Trinidad, McMoRan in talks on LNG regasification
reuters.com
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, June 29 (Reuters) - Trinidad and Tobago are holding talks with Freeport-McMoRan Energy about a possible partnership in a regasification terminal project off Louisiana, Energy Minister Eric Williams said on Tuesday.
"I am pleased to announce that the government of Trinidad and Tobago and Freeport-McMoRan, promoters of the Main Pass Energy Hub project, have signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow our technical teams to take the discussions one step further," Williams said at the opening of the Latin America and the Caribbean Gas Summit in Trinidad.
Freeport-McMoRan Energy is a unit of Louisiana-based McMoRan Exploration Co. (MMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which said in March it had filed a request with the U.S. Coast Guard to build the Main Pass Energy Hub, a 1 billion cubic foot LNG terminal off the Louisiana coast.
Williams said the regasification facility would be near several gas distribution pipelines and that the project would involve storage of gas in underground salt caverns, allowing marketing flexibility.
The United States holds 5 percent of the world's natural gas reserves but accounts for nearly one-fourth of world demand, and that demand is rising, he said.
"The demand in the U.S. market is made more acute owing to the steady natural decline of gas reservoirs and an insufficiency of regasification terminals," Williams said.
Williams said several other new and potential projects to help meet the demand were on stream or in the conceptualization stages. He said his government had received a dozen proposals for partnership in new regasification terminal projects in the United States, which imports over 70 percent of its liquefied natural gas supplies from Trinidad and Tobago.
"The large number of companies seeking some form of alliance with our country reflects the attractiveness of the opportunity for establishing more regasification terminals in the U.S. and for sourcing secure supplies of LNG," Williams said.
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