|
Galveston oh Galveston. . . . Holding company subsidiaries take role in first LNG storage facility; get approval for 1st terminal on U.S.-Canada West Coast By Gary Park For Petroleum News
Galveston LNG, a private Calgary-based holding company, is suddenly making waves in the global LNG scene.
Through its two wholly owned subsidiaries it has secured a role in construction of the world’s first LNG storage facility and has just cleared the final regulatory hurdle for its proposed LNG terminal on the northern British Columbia coast.
The announcements on back-to-back days give Galveston its highest profile since it was launched in 2003.
Its president is Alfred Sorensen, the former president of Duke Energy’s Canadian and European business units.
LNG Impel of Canada issued a statement Aug. 21 that it has teamed up with the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Multi Commodities Center and Techno Park to build the US$1 billion terminal at Dubai.
A joint statement said the storage hub, with capacity of 40 billion to 65 billion cubic feet, could turn Dubai into a pricing hub by offering customers the opportunity to store, trade and plan LNG supplies and eventually offer “financial derivatives around LNG and shipping.”
Completion of the first three tanks for the Dubai LNG Storage Hub is targeted for 2010-2011 and the remaining six tanks are scheduled to come on line within another two years. An open season to line up storage contracts starts Aug. 28 and ends Oct. 4.
A spokesman said the facility would free buyers and sellers from “being tied to strict and inflexible supply schedules over long periods of time.”
He said the Dubai terminal would give core LNG suppliers and buyers a chance to “capture future value by storing and trading across different months, as seasonal price variations are a key attribute of global LNG pricing.”
That’s another advance in the evolution of LNG into a world market with a uniform price like oil and away from the current system of companies finding, producing, storing, liquefying, shipping and regasifying LNG
LNG Impel, based in Barbados, is responsible under the joint agreement for covering 100 percent of the capital cost of the hub.
In return it would gain access to Dubai’s 50-year guaranteed tax holiday, part of the emirate’s ambition to become the energy trading hub of the Middle East. Kitimat receives permit Separately, on Aug. 22, Kitimat LNG said it has received the Canadian government environmental permit needed to develop its C$500 million terminal and regasification facility at the Kitimat deepwater port.
Kitimat LNG President Rosemary Boulton said in a statement that the approval opens the door for her company to build the first LNG terminal on the West Coast of Canada and the United States.
She said three pillars are in place for a successful project — location that offers shorter sailing times and lower shipping costs for suppliers; community support; and take-away pipe to move the gas into the North American network.
One of those customers could be the Alberta oil sands sector, where Boulton said demand for natural gas to power the production “will continue to grow, making the project attractive to offshore suppliers.”
Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose said the terminal is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects based on a comprehensive study, the implementation of mitigation measures and a follow-up program. The project now has the backing of the Canadian and British Columbia environmental regulators and a partnership agreement with the Haisla First Nation.
Site preparation will start in late fall and operations are scheduled to start in 2009, with initial send-out capacity of 610 million cubic feet per day.
| 