By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 12 -- Freeport LNG Development LP has awarded a contract to Technip unit Technip USA Corp., Houston, for the front-end engineering design (FEED) for its planned LNG receiving terminal on Quintana Island near Freeport, Tex. The FEED is slated for completion by yearend, and engineering and procurement leading to construction is expected to begin in first quarter 2004, Technip said.
Freeport LNG filed application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this year and "(we) are receiving positive feedback on our application," said CEO Michael S. Smith. If approved, it would be one of the first LNG receiving terminals to be approved and built in the continental US in more than 20 years (OGJ Online, June 20, 2003). "The contract with Technip USA is a milestone in the further development of our terminal as we target its completion by 2007."
"We plan to have facilities in place which will allow suppliers the ability to bring up to 1.5 bcfd of gas into the country through this strategic Gulf Coast location," Smith added. "The natural gas will be transported through a 9.4-mile natural gas pipeline extending to Stratton Ridge, which is a major point of interconnection for a number of Texas intrastate pipeline systems. The proposed LNG marine terminal, storage, vaporization units, and natural gas pipeline will be located entirely in Brazoria County, Tex."
Freeport LNG is a Delaware limited partnership whose sole general partner and 60% limited partner are owned and controlled by Michael Smith. The partnership's other limited partners are Cheniere LNG Inc. 30%, and Contango Oil & Gas Co. 10%.
