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TRANSPORTATION — Quick Takes
Another US LNG terminal begins operations
Operations have begun at what is likely to be the last LNG terminal to be built in North America.
A formal ceremony Oct. 27 at Pascagoula, Miss., inaugurated the Gulf LNG terminal, equally owned by GE Energy Financial Services and El Paso Corp., Houston. A subsidiary of El Paso will operate the 5 million tonne/year terminal.
Start-up of the terminal brings to 87.5 million tpy the amount of LNG import capacity operating along the US Gulf Coast, OGJ data show. Of the six US terminals now operating on the gulf, four are in varying stages of petitioning for permission to become LNG export plants (OGJ, Mar. 7, 2011, p. 100).
Earlier this week, BG Group announced it had signed the first sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for LNG produced on the US Gulf Coast (OGJ Online, Oct. 26, 2011). The LNG producer will be Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC, a unit of Cheniere Energy Partners LP, which operates the largest import terminal in the Western Hemisphere in Cameron Parrish, La.
Under the SPA, LNG exports could begin as early as 2015.
The Gulf LNG terminal sits near to Bayou Casotte Ship Channel in the Port of Pascagoula. It consists of two 160,000-cu m storage tanks with combined capacity of 6.6 bcf; 10 vaporizers, providing a base sendout capacity of 1.3 bcfd; and 5 miles of 36-in. pipeline connecting to downstream pipelines owned by Gulfstream, Destin, Transco, and Florida Gas Transmission.
The pipelines provide access to the Pascagoula gas processing plant operated by BP America Production Co.
The Gulf LNG terminal is contracted under 20-year firm service agreements for all of its capacity with a group of LNG producers, including several major oil and gas companies, to support the facility and provide a source of LNG.
EPP to expand Eagle Ford gas treatment
Enterprise Products Partners LP will build new gas processing and pipeline capacity in South Texas, expanding its natural gas and NGL infrastructure to accommodate expected production growth from the Eagle Ford shale. EPP will add a 300 MMcfd train at its Yoakum cryogenic natural gas processing facility in Lavaca County, Tex., and 62 miles of 24-in. and 30-in. OD pipeline loops in the region. The company will also add sufficient compression to boost transport capacity by 300 MMcfd.
The newly announced facilities are expected to begin service first-quarter 2013.
EPP is already building an Eagle Ford rich natural gas mainline system and associated laterals consisting of roughly 300 miles of pipeline with gathering and transportation capacity of more than 600 MMcfd. The Yoakum natural gas processing facility already has 600 MMcfd of capacity under construction, expected to begin service second-quarter 2012. The new Yoakum plant will complement the partnership's seven existing natural gas processing plants in South Texas with total capacity of 1.5 bcfd.
To handle the additional NGLs from the cryogenic facility, EPP has increased the OD of its 127-mile Y-grade pipeline running between the Yoakum plant and EPP's fractionation complex at Mont Belvieu, Tex., to 24-in. from 20-in. EPP put a fifth NGL fractionator at Mont Belvieu into service last month, bringing total capacity to 380,000 b/d, and already has a sixth under construction (OGJ Online, Oct. 18, 2011).
About 195 drilling rigs are active in the play as of end third-quarter 2011, compared with roughly 105 rigs in third-quarter 2010, according to EPP.
Pipelay begins on Papua New Guinea LNG
The initial lengths of the 450-km offshore portion of the planned 700-km natural gas pipeline for ExxonMobil Corp.'s $15 billion Papua New Guinea LNG project have started being laid on the seabed.
The pipe laying has begun near the LNG plant, which is under construction 20 km northwest of Port Moresby.
Two offshore pipelay vessels, Semac 1 and Castoro 10, are scheduled to work on the job for the remainder of this year and through 2012.
The first part of the job was the shore pull, which involved pulling the 36-in. pipe to shore to enable a connection with the land pipe section.
The pipeline will transport gas from the southern highlands and Western Provinces fields to the proposed two-train, 6.6 million tonne/year LNG plant.
LNG is scheduled to come on stream in 2014 and will deliver in excess of 9 tcf of gas during its 30-year life.
ExxonMobil is operator of the project with 33.2%. Oil Search has 29%, Independent Public Business Corp. (Papua New Guinea government) 16.6%, Santos 13.5%, Nippon Oil 4.7%, state-owned Minerals Resource Development Co. 2.8%, and Petromin 0.2%.
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