Delfin LNG in May submitted an application to the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard to construct, own and operate the Delfin LNG deepwater port project in the Gulf of Mexico.
The proposed project will be located off the coast of Cameron Parish, La., and would constitute the first LNG export deepwater port project in the U.S.
In its May 8 application, Delfin requested the authority to construct, own and operate a deepwater port with four floating liquefied natural gas vehicles (FLNGV), each capable of producing approximately 2 million tons per annum (Mtpa) of LNG for export.
Delfin said in a May 11 statement that the primary purpose of the proposed project is to liquefy natural gas for export to free trade agreement (FTA) and non-FTA nations under authorizations from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Separately on May 8, Delfin LNG submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the onshore components of the project.
When the deepwater port and onshore facilities are fully operational, they would process 1.32 billion standard cubic feet per day of feed gas from the onshore facilities and would allow Delfin LNG’s customers to export approximately 8 Mtpa of LNG.
In its FERC application, Delfin requested a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing the company to reactivate, construct, own and operate certain onshore pipeline and related compression, metering and regulation facilities in Cameron Parish.
According to the application to FERC, the onshore project includes returning to service the onshore-only, approximately one mile segment of the existing 42-inch pipeline formerly known as U-T Offshore System (UTOS), which is now owned by Delfin subsidiary Delfin Offshore Pipeline. The pipeline runs from Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line station No. 44 south to the mean high water mark along the Cameron Parish coast. The onshore project also includes the addition of 74,000 horsepower of new compression and associated metering and regulation facilities on adjacent property already devoted to natural gas industry use and installation of new supply header pipelines, which will consist of 0.25 miles of new 42-inch pipeline to connect the former UTOS line to the new meter station and 0.6 miles of new twin 30-inch pipelines between station No. 44 and the new compressor station site.
Delfin said that the proposed onshore facilities will be used solely in conjunction with the proposed deepwater port project, and maximizes use of existing idled and underutilized infrastructure and rights of way, which avoids and further mitigates the landowner and environmental impacts typically associated with greenfield project development.
The company said it will construct the onshore facilities in two stages, consistent with the phased development of the deepwater port, with phase one to be completed in 2018 and phase two in 2020.
According to Delfin’s FERC application, LNG will be stored aboard each of the FLNGVs, and LNG trading carriers will temporarily moor alongside the FLNGVs for LNG loading through ship-to-ship transfer. The deepwater port offshore pipeline, which will transport feed gas from the onshore facilities to the Delfin terminal, will consist almost entirely of existing U.S. natural gas pipeline.
The company said that the first segment of the offshore pipeline, as well as part of the onshore facilities, is comprised of the abandoned former UTOS system. The former UTOS pipeline is an existing 42-inch pipeline that extends from Cameron Parish, approximately 28.4 miles to an existing offshore manifold platform located in West Cameron block 167 in the Gulf of Mexico.
Delfin also said that FERC approved abandonment of the UTOS system in 2011, conditioned on UTOS filing a satisfactory plan for the facilities, and, if approved, final notice of abandonment. UTOS filed an abandonment implementation plan in August of 2014, which included the sale of the facilities to Delfin.
FERC approved the abandonment plan last September.
Earlier this year, Delfin entered into a letter of intent with High Island Offshore System (HIOS) to lease a segment of the HIOS pipeline extending from near the offshore terminus of the former UTOS system at the WC 167 platform approximately 57.4 nautical miles further offshore into High Island East Block A264. The four FLNGVs will be moored at various points along the HIOS system and connected to the system through new, short subsea laterals, starting approximately 16 nautical miles south of the WC 167 platform.
Delfin has reached initial agreements with two customers relating to the liquefaction capacity at the deepwater port. The company said in its application to FERC that it is actively engaged in negotiations with other potential customers.
Delfin in February signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with natural gas supply and trading company LITGAS, part of the Lithuanian state controlled Lietuvos Energija energy company group. Under the terms of the MOU, LITGAS will contract processing capacity at Delfin’s deepwater port.
In March, Delfin signed a MOU with BTG Pactual Commodities in relation to the tolling of all of the liquefaction capacity for the first floating liquefaction vessel to be deployed at the deepwater port project. The MOU includes an option for BTG Pactual Commodities to expand its tolling arrangement to include the liquefaction capacity of additional FLNGVs.
- Energies Media Staffhttps://energiesmedia.com/author/oilmanwp/
- Energies Media Staffhttps://energiesmedia.com/author/oilmanwp/
- Energies Media Staffhttps://energiesmedia.com/author/oilmanwp/
- Energies Media Staffhttps://energiesmedia.com/author/oilmanwp/
- Energies Media Staffhttps://energiesmedia.com/author/oilmanwp/
- Energies Media Staffhttps://energiesmedia.com/author/oilmanwp/
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