El Paso already owns one of only four currently operating land-based LNG regasification terminals in the US, located at Elba Island near Savannah, Georgia.
El Paso said a subsidiary of the company has agreed to acquire 50 percent of the Gulf LNG Clean Energy project and will operate the facility and manage its construction. The terminal is expected to be placed in service in late 2011.
The Crest Group, consisting of Houston-based investors, will own 30 percent of the project, and Sonangol USA, a unit of the state-owned national oil company of Angola, will own 20 percent.
“We are pleased to extend our presence and expertise in the LNG terminal business through the Gulf LNG project,” said Norman G. Holmes, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Southern Natural Gas Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of El Paso.
“El Paso has a long history with LNG, and we are excited to develop new infrastructure that provides additional sources of natural gas to meet the nation's growing energy needs,” Holmes said.
The project, which received its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certificate in February 2007, includes the construction of two 160,000 cubic metres capacity er storage tanks with a combined capacity of 6.6 billion cubic feet.
Gulf LNG will also include 10 vaporizers, providing a base send-out capacity of 1.3 Bcf/d; and five miles of 36-inch pipeline, connecting the terminal to the Gulfstream, Destin, Florida Gas Transmission, and Transco pipelines.
“Gulf LNG has negotiated 20-year firm service agreements for all of the capacity of the terminal with a group of LNG producers, including several major oil and gas companies, to support the facility and provide a source of LNG,” El Paso said.
