Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Excelerate Energy delivers first LNG cargo to Northeast Gateway Deepwater Port
Excelerate Energy delivers first LNG cargo to Northeast Gateway Deepwater Port
(First new East Coast LNG facility in more than 30 years)
IN MASSACHUSETTS BAY - With the arrival of the vessel Excellence at the new Northeast Gateway (NEG) Deepwater liquefied natural gas (LNG) Port, Houston-based Excelerate Energy L.L.C. announced today that the NEG facility has commenced commercial operations. Operating approximately 18 miles east of Boston in Massachusetts Bay, Excellence is currently off-loading its cargo of natural gas into the existing HubLine natural gas pipeline system operated by Spectra Energy, also headquartered in Houston.
"This delivery is a milestone in efforts to bring a new, safe, clean, affordable energy source to the New England region in record time," said Rob Bryngelson, Excelerate Energy CEO. "During the course of this project it became extremely clear that our ship-board regasification technology is the quickest, least expensive and most environmentally responsible way to bring new natural gas supplies to markets."
Excelerate Energy and Spectra Energy teamed up to extend a 16-mile, 24-inch pipeline lateral from Spectra Energy's HubLine to the Deepwater Port. Regional energy studies show that New England’s demand for natural gas will increase considerably in coming years, and call for new supplies to ensure price and supply stability.
"The Northeast Gateway project brings an important new natural gas supply to the heart of the New England market area," said Bill Yardley, group vice president, Spectra Energy Transmission. "Spectra Energy looks forward to its continuing partnership with Excelerate to provide greater supply diversity and reliability to the region. We also extend our joint appreciation to state and federal agencies for the thorough review and timely approvals of this project."
Since introducing the concept of the NEG project in the summer of 2004, Excelerate Energy began the permitting process in June 2005 and received its license for the facility in May 2007. Construction began immediately upon receipt of the license and was completed in December 2007. The completion and commissioning of NEG marks the first new LNG receiving facility to be built on the U.S. east coast in more than 30 years.
The regasification system developed by Excelerate Energy allows its purpose-built vessels, referred to as Regasification Vessels, to regasify its cargo of LNG using existing technology in a new application and deliver vaporous natural gas through one of two turret loading buoys located approximately 90 feet below the water surface. The vessel draws one of the buoys into a specially designed compartment and connects it to the onboard regasification equipment. The buoys not only act as a conduit for the gas delivery, but also act as a mooring for the vessels, eliminating the need to anchor the ships at the Deepwater Port. This robust system, designed and tested with crude oil in the North Sea, has been used in the US Gulf of Mexico by Excelerate Energy – even providing natural gas supplies throughout Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
With its inaugural delivery, Excellence will offload about one billion cubic feet of gas in order to test all of the port and pipeline systems. The delivery follows preliminary commissioning activities conducted in February, 2008. Ultimately, the system is capable of supplying up to approximately 20 percent of New England’s natural gas demand.
In addition to their ability to regasify LNG through its on board system, Excelerate Energy's vessels also retain their conventional LNG discharge capability, enabling the vessels to offload at standard land-based LNG terminals as well as into Excelerate Energy's proprietary receipt points around the world. Additionally, Excelerate Energy pioneered LNG transshipment via ship-to-ship transfer, further increasing the flexibility of its operations. These ships are by far the cleanest LNG tankers in the world due to the use of state-of-the-art technology that reduce both air and water emissions to nominal levels. While operating at NEG, the vessels are able to reduce their NOx emissions by nearly 90 percent and their water consumption and discharge by nearly 98 percent, a phenomenal accomplishment.
Aside from the Northeast Gateway Deepwater LNG Port, Excelerate also operates the Gulf Gateway Deepwater Port in the Gulf of Mexico about 116 miles south of Louisiana. The company has also pioneered GasPort technology comprising dockside LNG regasification facilities. The company’s first GasPort at Teesside in the United Kingdom was commissioned in February 2007. Excelerate also is developing similar facilities in South America and the Middle East.
As part of the federal environmental review process, certain mitigation measures were recommended by the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale from potential impacts caused by the construction and operation of the NEG facility. Excelerate Energy endorsed these recommendations and entered into a partnership with the Cornell University Bioacoustic Research Program (Cornell) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to develop a system of auto-detection buoys (ABs) equipped with passive acoustic hydrophones with sensors specially tuned to pick up the characteristic vocalizations of right whales, as well as other marine mammals. Advanced software developed by the Cornell team translates the whale calls into automated alerts that can be relayed through the web and maritime radio networks. Ten of these ABs have been installed along a nearly 50-mile segment of the recently re-aligned Boston Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) leading to the Northeast Gateway Port.
Excelerate Energy also has established operational procedures to further reduce the risk of striking whales while approaching Northeast Gateway.
"Excelerate takes its responsibility to environmental stewardship very seriously," said Jonathan Cook, Excelerate’s COO. "We have adopted operational procedures such as reducing the vessels' speed and posting additional lookouts who have received special training in marine mammal identification."
