LNG

The Galveston LNG Bunker Port project is seeking authorisation to site, construct and operate a proposed small-scale liquefied natural gas production facility on Shoal Point in Texas to provide clean shipping fuel to the Galveston Bay and Greater Houston port area.

Included in the plans are two LNG liquefaction Trains capable of producing around 600,000 gallons per day of LNG.

The LNG production plant for bunkering is a joint venture involving Pilot LNG and Seapath Group, a subsidiary of the Libra Group.

The filing with the state and federal agencies includes a permit required from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) covering the various developments.

LNG storage

In addition to the liquefaction plant, the Galveston LNG Bunker Port is also seeking approval to build two LNG storage tanks each with 3 million gallons of capacity, feed-gas pre-treatment equipment, a bunkering vessel loading berth and associated marine and loading facilities.

“We are confident that we will meet the rigorous requirements of state and local permitting authorities to ensure that the project is delivered on-time and will meet the ever-growing demand for clean fuel supply in the Galveston Bay and US Gulf Coast region by the end of 2026,” said Shaun Davison, Chief Development Officer of Pilot LNG.

Pilot LNG and Seapath said they signed a project development agreement in September of 2023 that provides a framework for the development, technical design, permitting and marketing of the proposed liquefaction project.

“Our experience in developing, building, and operating energy infrastructure will help us with this much-needed facility,” said Joshua Lubarsky, President of Seapath.

“This facility is a critical investment into the resilience of US maritime infrastructure, and upon construction will immediately provide positive environmental and economic impacts in Texas City, Galveston,” stated Lubarsky.

Pilot LNG is the frontline developer while it will receive financial support from partner Seapath.

Both companies said that the bunkering port would be “ideally situated” to supply the growing Galveston Bay Port Complex fuel and bunkering markets.

“This includes LNG marine fuel deliveries directly to customers in the port complex and surrounding areas, such as the Galveston Offshore Lightering Area,” they added.

Other permits required include those from the Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC) for the Texas Clean Water Act (CWA) and the United States Coast Guard for a Waterway Suitability Assessment.

US company Pilot LNG, the developer of the Galveston LNG Bunker Port (GLBP) project in Texas, awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for marine infrastructure to W.F. Baird Associates.

“It was imperative that the company selected to carry out the FEED works for the Galveston LNG Bunker Port has an excellent track record of successfully executing marine terminal projects,” said Pilot Chief Executive Jonathan Cook.

“Our selection of Baird is in recognition of their unparalleled expertise and commitment to engineering and designing safe, reliable and efficient projects and we are happy to continue to work with Baird as a preferred partner in GLBP,” added Cook.

Pilot has already filed regulatory applications with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and other relevant regulatory agencies, possibly paving the way for a final investment decision in 2022.

According to the company, the main LNG storage facilities are expected to be located on Pelican Island in Galveston County in Texas.

Regulations

As international regulators tighten emissions standards, the maritime industry is increasingly turning towards LNG as the marine fuel of choice due to its significantly lower emissions profile and cost competitiveness.

Analysts said the Galveston Bay area was an ideal location to add LNG bunkering infrastructure.

It has more than 10,500 deep-water vessel visits per annum and over 133,000 tug/tow movements on the Houston Ship Channel, as well as being the nation’s fourth busiest cruise terminal.

“To further mitigate operational impacts, Pilot has chosen to utilize electric drives powered by electricity sourced 100 percent from Texas renewable energy, eliminating virtually all operating emissions related to the facility and likely making the GLBP project one of the greenest facilities of its type anywhere in the world,” explained Pilot LNG.

Baird will provide a variety of services to Pilot LNG, including design of marine structures, metocean modelling including storm surge and tidal currents, dredging design and dredged material placement analysis.

Pilot LNG said that Baird’s Houston office would lead the assessment with support from the company’s other North American and international offices.

“The GLBP project will provide one of the US’s largest industrial port complexes, comprising the ports of Houston, Galveston, and Texas City, with the infrastructure needed to supply clean fuel to the growing global LNG bunker market,” added Pilot LNG.

Pilot LNG, a US infrastructure company planning the first dedicated liquefied natural gas bunkering facility to serve the Texas Gulf Coast ports of Galveston, Houston and Texas City has signed a cooperation deal with GAC Bunker Fuels (GAC) for the supply of LNG.

The bunker terminal will be located on Pelican Island in the Gulf of Mexico with a final investment decision scheduled for the second half of 2021 and operations starting in 2024.

Pilot LNG and GAC have signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA), which outlines the terms of the partnership.

It prepares the ground for Pilot to provide LNG marine fuel to GAC on a Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) basis for its customers in the Galveston Bay Port complex, as well as Galveston Offshore Lightering Area.

“The Galveston LNG Bunker Port will provide the LNG to supply GAC’s growing market for cleaner marine fuel, particularly as its customers seek economic ways to comply with tightening emissions regulations, including IMO 2020,” said Pilot LNG Chief Executive Jonathan Cook.

“The opportunity to work with such a strong global player like GAC is a very exciting step forward for Pilot and the Galveston project,” added Cook.

The facility infrastructure will be designed around floating liquefaction (FLNG) technology to be engineered, and constructed by Wison Offshore & Marine of Nantong in China.

The Chinese yard is best known for constructing the FLNG barge “Tango FLNG” built in 2017 and other floating LNG vessels.

GAC Global Director for Bunker Fuels, Nicholas Browne, said his company had a proven track record of more than three decades supplying quality marine fuels to the shipping sector.

“This agreement with Pilot will allow us to grow our portfolio of alternative fuels, with LNG as the cleanest and most cost-effective way for shippers to meet compliance,”added Browne.

GAC Bunker Fuels is the world’s only bunkering company with an integrated ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001 certification for bunker procurement that also covers LNG as a marine fuel.

In September 2020, GAC acted as the bunker broker for the Swedish dual-fuelled vessel “Fure Ven” when it became the first non-US flagged vessel to bunker LNG in the United States, taking on supplies at the Port of Jacksonville in Florida.

Pilot has filed regulatory applications with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and other relevant regulatory agencies, paving the way for a Final Investment Decision on the project in 2021.

As international regulators tighten emissions standards, the maritime industry is increasingly turning towards LNG as the marine fuel of choice due to its significantly lower emissions profile and cost competitiveness.

Analysts said the Galveston Bay area was an ideal location to add LNG bunkering infrastructure.

It had more than 10,500 deep-water vessel visits in 2019 and over 133,000 tug/tow movements on the Houston Ship Channel and is the nation’s fourth busiest cruise terminal.

Pilot LNG, a US infrastructure company, said it had filed with regulators for the first dedicated liquefied natural gas bunkering facility to serve the Texas Gulf Coast ports of Galveston, Houston and Texas City.

The bunker terminal will be located on Pelican Island in the Gulf with a final investment decision scheduled for the second half of 2021 and operations starting in 2024.

“Pilot LNG has filed regulatory applications with relevant government agencies, including the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as the lead permitting agency,” said the company.

The facility infrastructure will be designed around floating liquefaction (FLNG) technology to be engineered, and constructed by Wison Offshore & Marine of Nantong in China.

The Chinese yard is best known for constructing the FLNG barge “Tango FLNG” built in 2017 and currently deployed at the port of Bahai Blanca in Argentina.

“Wison is pleased to be part of this breakthrough US project by designing and building the liquefaction unit, that will supply LNG to the end-user market in the Galveston, Houston and Texas City port complex,” stated Vivian Li, head of Wison Offshore & Marine in North America.

“Since delivering the world’s first FLNG facility currently operating in Argentina, Wison has developed numerous floating solutions across the LNG value chain, with a focus on promoting a cleaner energy infrastructure alternative to the global market,” she added

As international regulators tighten emissions standards, the maritime industry is increasingly turning towards LNG as the marine fuel of choice due to its significantly lower emissions profile and cost competitiveness.

“Pilot LNG’s Galveston LNG Bunker Port will provide clean-burning LNG to one of the US’s largest Port complexes,” said Pilot LNG Chief Executive Jonathan Cook.

“The proposed Galveston LNG Bunker Port would provide the necessary infrastructure to supply the growing market for LNG marine fuel, substantially reducing marine emissions and cutting shippers’ fuel costs at the same time,” Cook added.

He explained that the Galveston Bay area, which encompasses the industrial Ports of Houston, Texas City and Galveston, is an ideal location to add LNG bunkering infrastructure.

It had more than 10,500 deep-water vessel visits in 2019 and over 133,000 tug/tow movements on the Houston Ship Channel and is the nation’s fourth busiest cruise terminal.

The company pointed out that Emission Control Areas (ECAs), including US coastal waters and the Galveston Bay area, and the 2020 International Maritime Organization sulfur cap on fuel make it more difficult for traditional marine fuels to comply with regulations and more expensive for shipping companies to operate their vessels.

The company noted that LNG when used as a marine fuel significantly reduces vessel emissions, including eliminating virtually all sulfur oxide emissions without the need for expensive exhaust-cleaners or other technologies.