The terminal, adjacent to the Bayou Casotte Ship Channel in the Port of Pascagoula on the Gulf Coast, will receive, store and regasify imported LNG.
Under construction are two 160,000 cu m gas storage tanks with a combined capacity of 6.6 bcf, 10 vaporizers, and connections to the Gulfstream, Destin, Florida Gas Transmission, and Transco pipelines.
GE said the project has secured 20-year service agreements with major oil and gas companies to supply LNG for all of the terminal’s capacity.
The plant is to be supplied mainly by Angola LNG, the future gas liquefaction plant near Soyo in Angola’s Zaire province.
Angola LNG—held by state-run Sonagas 22.8%, Chevron Corp. 36.4%, Eni SPA 13.6%, Total SA 13.6%, and BP PLC 13.6%—is due to be commissioned in 2012 and to produce 5.2 million tonnes/year of LNG.
The Angola LNG project will run primarily on associated gas from oil produced in Blocks 0, 14, 15, 17, and 18, which are operated by Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil Corp., Total, and BP.
A $550 million pipeline contract to transport gas from the blocks ashore was awarded in December 2008 to Norway’s Acergy and French contractor Spiecapag.
The two firms were contracted to carry out work on the near-shore and onshore sections of the pipeline network that will transport the associated gas from the deepwater oil fields to the Angola LNG plant near Soyo.
Gulf LNG Energy, the firm that is building, and will operate, the terminal at Pascagoula is controlled by El Paso Corp. 50%, GE 30%, and Sonangol USA 20%.