Qatar on Schedule to Double LNG Output by 2010

Dow Jones Newswire via Rig Zone ^ | December 04, 2008 | Oliver Klaus

[thackney]

Qatar is on track to more than double its production capacity of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to 77 million tons a year by 2010 despite falling energy prices, the country's energy minister said Wednesday.

"From December to 2010, we will add 46 million tons a year of LNG,"...

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Wait until the terrorist target that!
“Big badda boom!”

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And:

North American LNG Import Terminals

*************EXCERPT****************

Status of Proposed and Existing Facilities

As of March 2006, there were five operating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals in North America(excluding Puerto Rico) with a combined peak sendout capacity of 5.24 Bcf/d (including Trunkline LNG's Phase I expansion), average sendout of 3.73 Bcf/d and expansion plans for another 2.3 Bcf/d of peak sendout capacity:

• Excelerate Energy's Gulf Gateways Energy Bridge offshore Louisiana, the newest North American LNG terminal;
• Dominion's Cove Point LNG in Lusby, MD;
• Suez Energy North America's Everett LNG terminal in Everett, MA;
• El Paso Corp.'s Elba Island LNG terminal in Elba Island, GA; and
• Southern Union's Trunkline LNG terminal in Lake Charles, LA.

A total of 17 proposed LNG import terminals in North America, with 24.2 Bcf/d of peak sendout capacity (and expansion plans for another 5 Bcf/d of peak sendout), have been approved by government regulators (including two offshore Florida pipelines to proposed LNG terminals in the Bahamas):

[thackney]

LNG terminals are not as dangerous as the media and environmentalists like to pretend. LNG is not explosive. If a spill occurs, the vapor will rise and dissipate. Although portions of an LNG vapor cloud may be flammable, the flame speed of an unconfined cloud is relatively slow and it will not explode.

Natural gas burns only within the narrow range of a 5 to 15 percent gas-to-air mixture. If the fuel concentration is lower than 5 percent, it cannot burn because of insufficient fuel. If the fuel concentration is higher than 15 percent, it cannot burn because there is insufficient oxygen.

[thackney]

More up to date at:

http://www.ferc.gov/industries/lng/indus-act/terminals/lng-approved.pdf

[thackney]

Whoops, I forgot to include the existing:

http://www.ferc.gov/industries/lng/indus-act/terminals/exist-term.asp

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Was looking to see how the BAJA LNG port was doing....found this:

California okays pipeline link to Mexico LNG port

**********************EXCERPT********************

Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:03pm EDT

LOS ANGELES, July 16 (Reuters) - A California state commission has approved expansion of a pipeline system to bring natural gas by early 2008 into California from a liquefied natural gas terminal off northern Mexico's Pacific coast.

The North Baja Pipeline is owned by TransCanada Corp. (TRP.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on the U.S. side of the border, and connects with a pipeline system in Mexico owned by San Diego-based Sempra Energy (SRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

It will be part of a system that by early 2008 is to bring natural gas from Sempra's Energia Costa Azul LNG terminal near Ensenada in Baja California in Mexico to power plants primarily in northern Mexico, California and Arizona.

The move by the California State Lands Commission late on Friday was important because it approved an environmental impact report that can be used by Riverside and Imperial county officials in California, who must also give approval, Henry Morse, general manager of the TransCanada-owned pipeline, said on Monday.

Morse said TransCanada hopes to get approval for its part of the pipeline system from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission later this month.

Once the Costa Azul LNG terminal opens, the North Baja Pipeline flow will be reversed to bring gas into California.

North Baja begins in Ehrenberg, Arizona, and terminates about 80 miles south in Ogilby, California, near the border. It opened in 2002 and currently ships about 500 million cubic feet per day of natural gas into Mexico where it connects to the eastern end of the Sempra-owned Gasoducto Bajanorte.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks....

Also:

Sempra completes LNG terminal in Baja

***********************EXCERPT**************************

Import facility to serve Western states, Mexico

By Bruce V. Bigelow

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 15, 2008

Stoked by surging natural-gas prices, San Diego's Sempra Energy has completed its new Baja California liquefied-natural-gas terminal – opening the first LNG import facility on the western coast of North America.

JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune

Sempra Energy's new Baja California liquefied-natural-gas terminal, known as Energia Costa Azul, was completed at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune

The startup of Energia Costa Azul is part of Sempra Energy's corporate strategy that has placed a premium on being one of the top players in natural-gas infrastructure.

The isolated docking facility known as Energia Costa Azul, 14 miles north of Ensenada, is expected to serve as a major new source of natural gas for Mexico, as well as California, Arizona and other Western states.

Sempra plans to announce today that its LNG import facility is fully operational. The company completed the terminal at an estimated cost of $1 billion and received its first LNG shipment from Qatar on April 18. A second LNG shipment arrived 10 days later.

“We have fully tested the system,” said Darcel Hulse, who oversees the terminal and related development efforts as president of Sempra LNG.

The startup calls for pumping liquefied methane, which has been supercooled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, into Costa Azul's processing facility, where it is “re-gasified” at normal temperatures.

Sempra's tests included pumping natural gas from Costa Azul into new feeder lines, which Sempra built for about $215 million, and into existing gas pipelines serving California and Mexico.

The project represents a triumph for Sempra Chairman and Chief Executive Don Felsinger, whose political contacts in Baja California and work on cross-border issues helped facilitate Mexico's regulatory approval.

At least 14 similar LNG terminals have been proposed in recent years along the coast from Canada to Mexico, but Sempra's is the only one built so far. The list includes four proposals in Southern California, including an offshore project near Malibu that sank under strong political and environmental opposition.

LNG opponents in Oregon have even argued that the startup of Energia Costa Azul makes LNG projects proposed along the Columbia River unnecessary.

For top executives at Sempra, the startup at Costa Azul also has begun to fulfill a corporate strategy formulated in the late 1990s that amounted to a multibillion-dollar bet on natural gas.

The 1998 merger of San Diego's Enova and Los Angeles-based Pacific Enterprises created the nation's biggest natural-gas utility by combining the service territories of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. with Southern California Gas.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From Saturday, May 17, 2008:

LNG Terminal Opens on West Coast....on Mexico's Baja Peninsula

NIMBY, NIMBY, NIMBY. Keep saying that as whiny Californians will get their natural gas fed to them from a foreign country. Sempra LNG opens up its Baja LNG terminal near Ensenada, as reported here:

"The start of operations at Energía Costa Azul represents the culmination of seven years of development activity involving the acquisition of permits and commercial contracts, construction, start-up and testing," said Darcel L. Hulse, president and chief executive officer of Sempra LNG. "The journey from an idea to a whole new business has been both challenging and satisfying."

Energía Costa Azul's first cargo of imported natural gas arrived April 18 aboard the Al Safliya, a new, state-of-the-art LNG carrier from Qatar. A second LNG ship, the Bluesky, arrived at Energía Costa Azul May 6 with a cargo of LNG from Trinidad. The stringent performance testing is now complete and the terminal has successfully met all of its design criteria.

The terminal is fully contracted and capable of processing 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas, with room for expansion. While Sempra LNG owns 100 percent of the facility, the company is leasing half of Energía Costa Azul's processing capacity to Shell International Gas Limited under a 20-year agreement. Sempra LNG's half of the capacity at Energía Costa Azul will be supplied from a new liquefaction facility nearing completion at Tangguh, Indonesia. Shipments from the Indonesian facility should begin arriving in the second quarter of 2009.

The natural gas processed at Energía Costa Azul will be used in Baja California and the U.S. Southwest. Natural gas from the terminal will meet applicable Mexico and U.S. gas pipeline quality standards.

I applaud Sempra's success, but deplore the NIMBY attitude that causes businesses to have to locate such facilities in neighboring countries to avoid the NIMBYs. I guess the jobs associated with the LNG facility and the lower cost of shorter pipelines don't matter to some vocal, and in my view, misguided groups in California.

Posted by Eagle1 at 5/17/2008 08:51:00 AM  

[Maine Mariner]

Tremendous opposition to LNG terminals in Maine.
Good paying jobs for both constructing the site and operating the site. But lots of moonbat trustfunders, artists, and so forth that oppose economic development.

[thackney]

Thanks for the update

[thackney]

I guess they like a high cost of home heating.

[blam]

"Tremendous opposition to LNG terminals in Maine."

Same here:

Plans For LNG Terminal Off Alabama's Coast Dropped

[wideminded]

LNG terminals are not as dangerous as the media and environmentalists like to pretend. LNG is not explosive. If a spill occurs, the vapor will rise and dissipate. Although portions of an LNG vapor cloud may be flammable, the flame speed of an unconfined cloud is relatively slow and it will not explode.

In an engineering library a few years ago I came across an older book called Frozen Fire that detailed some of the serious accidents that occurred in the early days on LNG storage and discussed the potential hazards.

According to this book, an LNG vapor cloud does not rise but clings to the ground (which makes sense since it is cold). If a breach of one of these very large tanks occurred, the vapor cloud could spread over an enormous area.

The Wikipedia page on LNG has a link to a Sandia Labs study on LNG leak hazards. It says that if there is not a nearby ignition source, an LNG vapor cloud from a large spill can extend a mile or more.

When 25000 cubic meters of LNG starts burning, you don't want to be in the vicinity.

[thackney]

According to this book, an LNG vapor cloud does not rise but clings to the ground

It is extremely difficult for Methane vapor to disperse to an only 15% concentration and remain cold enough to be heavier than air. Methane's specific gravity is on 0.55.

If it has just vaporized in a dense, cold cloud, then it is almost entirely too rich to ignite. To mix with the warmer air to only a 15% concentration, it has picked up most the heat from the ground and air and is rising and dispersing.

LNG has been transported worldwide for 4 decades. Safety systems have improved a lot in that time while the volume being handled has greatly increased.

[Yaelle]

Unh-unh. A lot of conservatives researched it when it was proposed here in Long Beach, and it was pretty scary, the risks and things they found (can’t remember off the top of my head). It was not just moonbats fighting it.

Look, all of us here have to seriously worry about terrorism in this port anyway, every day. I see those blimps and am thankful for that little sign of homeland security. We live in a target zone around here. Anything to increase our danger we do not need.

[thackney]

when it was proposed here in Long Beach, and it was pretty scary

Only the myths, not the realities.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Same for Long Island Sound. There are literally millions of customers in the area, and the enviro freaks killed it.

Then they bitch about high energy prices.

Friggin hypocrites make me vomit.