By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 13 -- Excelerate Energy LLC, The Woodlands, Tex., has commissioned its Gulf Gateway Energy Bridge deepwater LNG port and begun commercial operations with its first load of LNG discharged and regasified onboard into almost 3 bcf of natural gas.
The world's first offshore LNG receiving port, it is in the Gulf of Mexico 116 miles off Louisiana in 298 ft of water and is tied into a subsea pipeline that can deliver the gas into the Blue Water and Sea Robin offshore pipeline systems at 50-690 MMcfd. The deepwater terminal is capable of delivering as much as 690 MMcfd of gas to downstream markets.
Gulf Gateway's "Energy Bridge" port consists of a Submerged Turret Loading (STL) system comprised of a submerged turret buoy; chains, lines, and anchors; a flexible riser; and a subsea manifold (OGJ, Apr. 14, 2004, p. 73). The STL, provided by Advanced Production & Loading, Arendal, Norway, floats submerged at 90 ft until retrieved and connected in the moonpool of specially designed LNG carriers called Energy Bridge Regasification Vessels (EBRV). Each EBRV will have a capacity of 138,000 cu m of LNG.
The regasification, using a shell and tube vaporizer�part of a combined open-closed loop system�is done on board the EBRV, and the gas transferred to onshore via the pipeline system.
Excelsior, the first of Excelerate's fleet of EBRVs, purchased the inaugural LNG cargo from Asean LNG Trading Ltd. in Bintulu, Malaysia. Excelsior is owned by Exmar NV of Belgium and was constructed at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Ltd. in South Korea.
This is the first deepwater LNG facility to commence operations since the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 amended the Deepwater Port Act to include LNG terminals. It is also the first new LNG regasification facility built in North America in more than 20 years.
In addition to the Gulf Gateway LNG port, Excelerate said it is "working to finalize our Northeast Gateway project" off Boston and anticipates building other offshore LNG ports worldwide.
