News/ Press
LNG's March to the Sea; Zeus Conference to
Examine Key Issues, Timing
August 3, 2004, Houston -- The LNG industry is beginning to move
offshore, in part as a defensive tactic to avoid the safety and
security concerns of local citizens to shore-based terminals and,
in part, as an offensive move to access more gas reserves and
possibly gain manufacturing and scale efficiencies.
Project developers and the engineering contractors and equipment
manufacturers that support them are working out the technical
challenges of marinizing liquefaction, storage, loading, unloading
and regas systems.
"Moves to offshore facilities will change the economics
of LNG project development," said Bob Nimocks, president
of Zeus Development Corporation. "For import terminals, developers
have the incentive to build as large a terminal as possible, because
the cost of incremental capacity is less than with shore-based
terminals. For liquefaction, we may see full-scale plants producing
much smaller fields than the 10 to 15 Tcf minimums for shore-based
plants."
Gradually, LNG technology that for decades has been limited to
onshore locations is being readied for marine environments. The
first offshore LNG terminal will go into operation next year.
In Spain, manufacturers are placing liquefaction process trains
on a barge for positioning on the shoreline of the Norwegian Sea.
"With such super majors as ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, Shell
and ConocoPhillips working on offshore receiving and regasification
terminals, the technology for offshore LNG facilities is advancing
rapidly," Nimocks said. "The next step will be the move
from fixed, gravity-based structures to floating facilities."
No less than thirteen offshore terminals in five countries are
in design phases. Excelerate Energy and ChevronTexaco have received
the necessary U.S. approvals for terminals in the Gulf of Mexico.
September 8th and 9th, Zeus will host a conference, "LNG
Moving Offshore" which will be held at the Hilton Houston
Westchase Hotel, to discuss the issues around the marinization
of LNG. Speakers include Kathleen Eisbrenner, president, Excelerate
Energy LLC; David Landry, VP, Freeport-McMoRan Energy LLC; Greg
Pepper, VP, Aker Kvaerner; Phil Rynn, American Bureau of Shipping;
Jack Bonn, Chart Industries; and Jens Kaalstad, president of APL,
Inc. among others. For more information, access www.lngexpress.com/mlo
or contact
, 713-952-9501 or
, 713-333-5769.
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