Gulf Gateway Deepwater Port
Gulf Gateway Deepwater Port was the first offshore liquefied natural gas LNG import facility.[1]
Gulf Gateway was owned by Excelerate Energy Limited Partnership. It was located in Block 603 of the West Cameron Area, South Addition at a distance of approximately 116 miles (187 km) from the Louisiana Coast, Gulf Gateway had a baseload capacity of 500 million cubic feet (14,000,000 m3) per day with a peak capacity of 690 million cubic feet (20,000,000 m3) per day.[2] Unlike the four LNG terminals which were built in the US before it, Gulf Gateway utilized a special type of LNG carrier which can vaporize LNG on board the ship offshore rather than on land.[3] In addition the vessel, the terminal consisted of a submerged turret loading (STL) buoy system,[4] a new-build piled platform to support a gas custody transfer metering station, and associated pipelines to connect the subsea offloading buoy system to two pipeline grids.
History
[edit]Offshore construction of Gulf Gateway commenced in August 2004 and was completed in February 2005 at a cost of approximately US$70 million. First cargo delivery occurred on March 17, 2005 from the world's first Energy Bridge Regasification Vehicle (EBRV),[5] also known as a floating storage and regasification unit, the Excelsior.[6]
The Gulf Gateway was in operation in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike and was not affected by either storm.[7]
The terminal was closed in 2011,[8] due to the shift in the supply-demand balance[9] in the United States from the proliferation of shale gas. The components of the terminal were removed for use at other similar terminals.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ "StackPath".
- ^ "StackPath".
- ^ "Energy-pedia – upstream oil & gas news for EP professionals".
- ^ "Submerged Turret Loading".
- ^ "Excelerate Buys Rights to el Paso's Energy Bridge LNG Technology; Takes over Project". 18 December 2003.
- ^ "Excelerate Energy | Leader in Integrated LNG Solutions".
- ^ "First Deepwater LNG Import Facility to be Retired". 20 April 2011.
- ^ "Federal Register :: Request Access".
- ^ "MARAD OKs Retirement of First LNG Deepwater Facility". 15 August 2013.
- ^ "A Barrel Full", oil industry website.