FERC has given the green light for Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC to begin construction by Wednesday of a 16-mile pipeline that would provide deliveries of regasified natural gas from the proposed Northeast Gateway deepwater liquefied natural gas (LNG) port to the Northeast market.

The go-ahead to construct the line comes about a week after the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued a license for Northeast Gateway Energy Bridge LLC, a subsidiary of The Woodlands, TX-based Excelerate Energy LLC, to build the deepwater port in Massachusetts Bay, about 18 miles east of Boston (see Daily GPI, May 15). FERC approved the Algonquin project in mid-March, but the start of construction hinged on Northeast Gateway receiving a license from MARAD (see Daily GPI, March 16).

Algonquin’s proposed 24-inch diameter lateral would connect its existing HubLine pipe in Massachusetts Bay to the proposed LNG facility. The pipeline would have the capacity to deliver up to 800,000 Dth/d of incremental supply to the Northeast market, and is targeted for operation in the 2007-2008 winter season, said Algonquin spokesman John Sheridan.

The MARAD license keeps the Northeast Gateway project on target to begin natural gas deliveries from the port in December. The project is based on Excelerate Energy’s proprietary Energy Bridge technology and will be the company’s second deepwater port. In March 2005, Excelerate Energy began operating its Gulf Gateway Deepwater Port in the Gulf of Mexico — the only offshore LNG receiving port operating in the world (see Daily GPI, April 7, 2005).

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