By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 18 -- Australian BHP Billiton Petroleum Inc. announced plans to build a floating LNG terminal off California. If approved, the proposed $550 million terminal could be operational in 2008, a spokesman said.
Plans calls for BHP Billiton LNG International Inc., Oxnard, Calif., to construct and operate the terminal 21.5 miles off Ventura County.
The proposed terminal, to be called Cabrillo Port, would be a permanently moored floating, storage, and regasification unit (FSRU). LNG would be stored in traditional storage tanks, regasified, and transported via undersea pipeline into a local pipeline system.
BHP Billiton intends to file application within weeks with the US Coast Guard-Maritime Administration seeking permission for a deepwater port license. From the California State Lands Commission, the company needs permission to construct an undersea pipeline.
Pending approval after environmental reviews and public comment periods, BHP Billiton anticipates that all necessary permits could in place by Dec. 31, 2004, a company spokesman said.
"We've taken BHP Billiton's long-held expertise in operating offshore floating, production facilities and merged it with state of the art LNG carrier, storage, and regasification technology," said Stephen Billiot, vice-president, BHP Billiton LNG International.
"We understand California's concern for its coastline and its communities," he said, adding that the FSRU would be build "away from population centers to ensure the highest level of protection for the California coast and public safety."
The anticipated average send-out from the proposed FSRU is 800 MMcfd, BHP Billiton said.
High natural gas prices have prompted renewed interest in LNG terminals for both the US and Mexico.
ChevronTexaco Inc. plans a terminal off Baja California, Mexico, while Shell Oil & Power, a unit of Shell Oil Co., plans a terminal in Costa Azul on the west coast of Mexico (OGJ Online, Aug. 6, 2003).
Cheniere Energy Inc., Houston, is in the early stages of developing terminals in Texas and Louisiana (OGJ Online, Aug. 12, 2003).
