As of Friday there was no word on when Boston Harbor would open again to LNG shipments. A spokesman for Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift, who has been involved along with the U.S. Coast Guard in investigating security measures since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said that talks were continuing.

A delivery slated for the Everett, MA terminal in Boston Harbor operated by Distrigas last week has been off-loaded at El Paso’s Elba Island, GA terminal. It was a just-in-time opening for the Georgia terminal, which has been refurbished and expanded since its closing in 1980, and had been slated to be in service this month. With upgrades Elba Island is expected to have the capability to vaporize up to 675,000 MMBtu/d.

The Massachusetts governor and the Coast Guard have said LNG shipments to the Distrigas facilities will continue to be turned away until the company, in cooperation with state and federal authorities, comes up with a plan to ensure the security of the tankers and the surrounding communities from possible terrorist attacks. Both the Coast Guard and Distrigas last week declined to predict when tanker traffic would resume in Boston Harbor. A spokeswoman said the governor expected LNG tanker traffic would resume in the near term, “possibly [in] only a matter of weeks,”

Distrigas has declared force majeure — which released it from its contract obligations with its “20 or so” large LNG customers in New England — as a result of the freeze on its LNG shipments.

A spokesman for Keyspan Energy Delivery (formerly Boston Gas) told NGI that it would not be affected in the near to mid-term, since it has been filling its LNG storage over the past seven months and it is “pretty well topped off.” The distributor said only 4% of its supply comes from LNG.

Questions are being raised about why ships carrying crude oil and petroleum products are being allowed into the harbor, while LNG has been barred, although gas company officials have said the LNG cargoes are no more hazardous. However, on a regular basis the LNG tankers are treated differently from other petroleum deliveries. A representative of the Massachusetts Port Authority said LNG tankers have been delivering into Boston Harbor for 30 years without incident. The standard procedure is for the harbor to be cleared for the large tankers, which carry about 3 Bcf of liquid gas, and for the tankers to be escorted into the harbor. He also noted that since the terrorist attack Sept. 11, four Coast Guard boats fitted with artillery on their decks have been patrolling the harbor.

Natural gas cannot burn in its liquid state, which is achieved by chilling it to -260° F. “You could shoot a bullet through it and it wouldn’t ignite,” one expert said. If it escapes from its refrigerated container, however, it will gasify and the natural gas could be ignited. Here again, however, the properties of natural gas keep it from burning in concentrations of less than 5% or more than 15% mixed with air. “There could be some expansion issues, however,” he added, since liquefying natural gas reduces it to 1/600th of its original volume. LNG tankers have long been required to be double-hulled. The LNG terminal in Boston is the only one in the United States near a major population center.

The only LNG fire on record happened in 1944 when an LNG storage tank in Cleveland containing 90 MMcf failed and leaked LNG onto the city streets. The LNG regasified and exploded, igniting a second tank and burning through a square mile, or about 20 city blocks, and killing 130 people. The storage tank failure was attributed to defective steel, manufactured at a time when much of the country’s resources were directed toward fighting World War II.

©Copyright 2001 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.