An artist’s impression of the Safe Harbor Energy island LNG terminal
The US Coast Guard (USCG) has deemed the Safe Harbor Energy LNG project application complete and has begun its review of the proposal to build a deepwater LNG import terminal on a man-made island 23 miles from the entrance to New York harbour. Atlantic Sea Island Group, a Manhattan-based consortium of investors developing the US$1 billion Safe Harbor Energy project, states that the 60.5-acre island and its terminal would be located far from population centres and outside shipping lanes.
The facility would be able to process 2 billion ft3 of natural gas per day, equivalent to deliveries of approximately 15 million tonnes of LNG per annum. The plan calls for terminal construction work to begin in 2009 and for the facility to be commissioned in 2014.
Some environmentalists consider the Safe Harbor Energy LNG project to be less risky than the proposed Broadwater Energy LNG scheme, an unrelated, offshore LNG import project being promoted by Shell and TransCanada for the nearby waters of Long Island Sound. In the Broadwater plan the project’s floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) would be visited by two to three LNG carriers per week to meet the import terminal's planned sendout volume of 1 billion ft3/day.
"Being deemed 'complete' by the Coast Guard allows us to continue a process of public review, government oversight, market due diligence and environmental protection," Atlantic Sea Island Group chairman Howard Bovers said in a statement. "It allows us to continue to present Safe Harbor Energy as a strategic solution for a secure supply of natural gas to serve Long Island, the New York metropolitan area and the US Northeast for decades to come."
The Atlantic Sea Island Group explains that the Safe Harbor Energy island will be constructed in federal waters on the US outer continental shelf where water depths are approximately 22 metres. The location will allow LNG tankers to use the nearby, established Ambrose-to-Nantucket and Hudson Canyon-to-Ambrose international shipping lanes to access the facility. However, the island will be distant enough from these lanes to ensure that there will be minimal interference with commercial shipping and recreational boating users.
The island will be constructed of natural sand, gravel and rock materials, surrounded by breakwaters consisting of prefabricated caissons, prefabricated armour units and rock. The island would be designed to be able to withstand a 200-year storm. The LNG facilities will feature four 180,000m3 full containment storage tanks and two jetties able to accommodate LNG carriers up to 265,000m3 in size.
The Atlantic Sea Island Group plans to run a subsea pipeline from the new island to feed natural gas into an existing pipeline that runs from New Jersey to Long Beach on Long Island. The pipeline connection point would be at a point about five or six miles offshore and the current arrangement on the New Jersey-Long Island line allows gas to flow in both directions.
No comments:
Post a Comment