Elba Island terminal due expansion, pipeline

Dec. 21, 2005
El Paso Corp. subsidiaries will expand the Elba Island LNG receiving terminal near Savannah, Ga., and lay the related Elba Express pipeline.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 21 -- El Paso Corp. subsidiaries will expand the Elba Island LNG receiving terminal near Savannah, Ga., and lay the related Elba Express pipeline.

The projects, costing $850 million, will start service in mid-2010.

El Paso Corp. unit Southern Natural Gas Co. (SNG) said the Phase III expansion of its Elba Island terminal will add 8.4 bcf of LNG storage to the facility's 15.7 bcf of storage capacity. The expansion also will increase send-out capacity by 900 MMcfd to 2.1 bcfd.

Docks at the terminal also will be modified to accommodate larger LNG vessels.

Phase II expansion of Elba Island is expected to be in service in February (OGJ Online, Sept. 11, 2001).

SNG will construct, own, and operate the 191-mile, 1.1 bcfd Elba Express interstate natural gas pipeline. The new line, carrying gas northwest from the terminal, will consist of 105 miles of 42-in. line and 86 miles of 36-in. line.

Shell NA LNG LLC and BG LNG Services LLC have entered into long-term agreements for the incremental storage and send-out capacity of the Elba Island Phase III expansion and for the transportation capacity on the Elba Express pipeline (OGJ Online, Jan. 3, 2002).

Shell said it plans to use its capacity primarily to import LNG from Qatar through its Qatargas IV project. BG, the sole importer of LNG at Elba Island now, will receive LNG from existing and future sources in the Atlantic Basin, including Trinidad and Tobago, Egypt, and Equatorial Guinea.