A proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon has completed navigation and docking simulation studies for three different sized tankers, Oregon LNG said Monday. The simulations were done by the Pacific Marine Institute in Seattle, and Oregon LNG said they demonstrate the company’s proposed site can accommodate all three tanker sizes.

Project proponents said they completed Oregon land-use permitting last year and are now focused on environmental review work by the U.S. Coast Guard and FERC. The project was formerly known as the Skipanon Natural Gas Facility when it was proposed by independent electric power plant developer-operator Calpine Corp. several years ago.

A set of private investors has formed a company in the Portland, OR, suburb of Vancouver, WA, to pursue an LNG receiving terminal at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Oregon side near Warrenton. The site is on land owned by the Oregon State Lands Department and leased to the Port of Astoria, which subleased the site under a 65-year term to Oregon LNG (see Daily GPI, June 12).

“The [shipping and docking] simulation confirms that our site is well suited for even the largest vessels, such as the Q-Max,” said Oregon LNG CEO Peter Hansen. “The simulation also shows that the tankers can safely navigate the Columbia River bar.”

Hansen said the proposed site has other advantages making it “ideal from a safety and security standpoint” because of the site’s and tanker transit route’s distance from population centers, bridges and other major infrastructure. He claims the site also is the only onshore LNG site on the U.S. West Coast that can accommodate the larger vessels.

Oregon LNG said it expects to have Coast Guard and FERC permits by early 2009 and begin receiving LNG shipments in late 2012 at a terminal with a 1.5 Bcf/d capacity. An affiliated company will construct a 120-mile large-diameter pipeline to deliver gas supplies throughout Oregon, Washington and other western states.

Last June Oregon LNG said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the project for use of the National Environmental Policy Act pre-filing process, and that action followed the developers’ receiving last May a “preliminary western suitability assessment” for its 94-acre site from the U.S. Coast Guard.

The project is one of three active LNG proposals in Oregon, with the other two — Bradwood Landing, also on the Columbia River, and Jordan Cove along the south-central Pacific Coast at Coos Bay — currently further down the federal processing trail and having gained local permitting in recent weeks (see Daily GPI, Dec. 17).

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