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Gold/Mining/Energy : LNG -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (165)	1/11/2005 1:57:55 PM
From: Dennis Roth	Read Replies (7) \| Respond to of 919

PM says LNG Company to be given approval this month By TAMARA McKENZIE,Guardian Staff Reporter tamara@nasguard.com thenassauguardian.com After more than two years of negotiating with the Progressive Liberal Party Government, one of two energy companies vying to construct a liquefied natural gas pipeline in The Bahamas will be given approval this month. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Perry Christie on Sunday. "With respect to AES, I indicated to them that I would have given the approval by the end of the year [2004], and everything is in place, except I just need to look a little bit closer at a couple of figures to see if The Bahamas is going to benefit significantly from it," the Prime Minister stated. Mr Christie was a special guest Sunday on Island 102.9 FM Parliament Street talk show, hosted by the CEO of Island FM and The Nassau Guardian Charles Carter and broadcaster Jerome Sawyer. Owning over $33 billion in assets, Virginia based AES Corp wants to build a gas pipeline between Ocean Cay, Bimini, and Dania Beach, Florida. The company proposes to construct a terminal to receive liquefied natural gas via ocean tankers, store the liquid gas, re-convert it to natural gas through warming, and send it to The U.S. via pipeline. It has also been repeatedly claimed by Trade and Industry Minister Leslie Miller that the Government was negotiating to charge AES some $10 million for licence and another $6 million to lease the seabed at Ocean Cay. Other benefits include between $12-$15 million dollars in revenue during year one, climbing to approximately $22 million per annum by year five and $34 million by year 15. In total, the public treasury could accrue some $985 million over a 25-year period, Mr Miller claimed in recent interviews. A source close to the negotiation process also told The Guardian last week that AES had reportedly invested more than $50 million to have the project approved, while Houston-based Tractebel had invested some $30 million. The $600 million AES project has undergone extensive review and analysis in both The Bahamas and the U.S., with ICF Consulting of Washington, D.C., offering technical assistance. AES was the first energy giant to submit its $4 million Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to BEST for review. Its review was completed since November 2003 and its documents were forwarded to the Cabinet. In the U.S., AES was also the first to win FERC approval and was issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement in December 2003. However, the EIA of the two remaining energy giants is still being reviewed by BEST, leaving AES as the only company that would be granted government approval at this time. The proposed Tractebel Calypso project recently merged with Texas El Paso, once a contender to construct an LNG pipeline in The Bahamas. The Tractebel project will transport natural gas via pipeline from the planned liquefied natural gas storage and re-gasification facility of its affiliate, Tractebel Bahamas LNG Ltd in Freeport, Grand Bahama. The U.S. segment of the pipeline will be installed at Port Everglades, Florida, and interconnected with the Florida Gas Transmission system adjacent to Florida Power and Light's Lauderdale power plant. However, the Houston-based company is still negotiating with the Grand Bahama Port Authority to construct its LNG re-gasification terminal at the Freeport harbour, and the Government is having second thoughts, due to the location of the proposed facility. On Sunday, Mr Christie said an environmental engineering group advising the Government and the BEST Commission, held "strong" views in opposition to the presence of an LNG facility in the harbour of Freeport. "I took the point of view [by asking]: what is the worse case scenario? Show me if there is an impact. Show me what is a likely area of impact." Mr Christie also asked what were the implications of a ship entering a harbour and unloading liquefied natural gas. "For example, a ship comes into the harbour unloading liquid natural gas, the gas goes into the water, it floats down a stream and then vaporises into a cloud that could be over some town and explodes. What is the implication of this? "The guidance put out by the federal energy authority in the United States of America says be careful within a mile and a quarter of the facility. Well, if we get within a mile and a quarter of the facility, we get to where people live, so I was taking a very strong position based on advice. Mr Edward St George and I agreed that we would allow environmental people to work it out." Meanwhile, Mr Christie said when approval is given to AES or any other LNG companies, there will be a regulatory regime in place and the government will be able to govern and monitor their actions.