Texas LNG terminal in home straight
Texas’s Freeport liquefied natural gas import terminal, the first onshore LNG
import terminal to be built in the US in more than 25 years, hopes to
receive its first gas cargo by the end of April and be commercially open for
business by 1 June, officials said.
The $1-billion project will pump up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas
per day.
"It's very satisfying," Charles Reimer, president of Freeport LNG Development,
told a news briefing.
Another terminal, 90 miles (144 kilometres) north-east near Port Arthur, also
is very near completion and running a close race with Freeport for startup.
The $1.5-billion, 2.6 Bcf per day Sabine Pass LNG terminal expects its first
cargo in the next few weeks and plans commercial startup before 30 June.
When finished, the two will lead a parade of terminal startups that will
double US LNG import capacity in about 18 months. Opening of Sabine,
Freeport and three other terminals will raise US import capacity from about
6 Bcfd to 13 Bcfd.
Declining domestic US supply has spawned a drive to build LNG import
terminals, Reuters reported.
A Coast Guard official at the Freeport briefing said it is hard to say whether
Freeport or Sabine Pass will open first. "We believe they're neck and neck,"
said Matthew Hahne, LNG manager for US Coast Guard District 8 in New Orleans.
In any case, Michael Smith, lead investor in Freeport, said the current state
of the LNG business worldwide means that whoever is first probably will not
be at full capacity for some time to come.
LNG production expansion overseas has faced project delays and cost overruns,
and other consuming countries outbid the US for LNG much of the year.
Smith said the production bottleneck is expected to ease by 2012. "You need to
take a very long view," Smith said.
LNG inevitably will become more important because US domestic output is
declining, said Bill Cooper, president of the Centre for LNG, who was on
hand for the briefing.
"We need the energy, and LNG is a source," he said.
ConocoPhillips has bought two-thirds of the capacity of Freeport LNG and Dow
Chemical the remaining third, so officials said operation of the facility is
financially secure even if it is not fully used at first.
At Sabine Pass, Cheniere Energy, parent of Sabine LNG, will own all its
capacity until 2009, when Chevron and French giant Total SA will take 1 Bcf
each.
Five other US terminals are already operational, the oldest since 1971. The
first offshore US terminal opened in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana in
2005. A second offshore port is nearing commercial operation off Boston,
Massachusetts.
25 March 2008 23:36 GMT
| last updated:
25 March 2008 23:36 GMT
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