The third of four liquefied natural gas (LNG)-ready U.S. Jones Act tankers was christened earlier this month at New Orleans by Jacksonville, FL-based Crowley Maritime Corp. Louisiana, a 50,000 dead-weight-ton, 330,000-bbl capacity ship, joins Crowley’s sister LNG-ready vessels, Texas and Ohio, as the first tankers ever to receive the American Bureau of Shipping’s LNG-Ready Level 1 approval. As such, privately held Crowley, one of the largest independent U.S operators of petroleum barges and tankers, has the option of converting to LNG propulsion all three of the ships in the future. The new ships have advanced technologies providing fuel efficiency, flexible cargo capability and the meet latest regulatory requirements, a Crowley spokesperson said. The Philly Shipyard’s unit, PSI, built all three of the tankers. Separately, Crowley is involved in the development of the first of two new cargo ships destined for Mediterranean trade and outfitted with LNG engines (see Daily GPI, April 1).

Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has prepared a favorable Environmental Assessment (EA) of Millennium Pipeline Co.’s proposed Valley Lateral Project [CP16-17]. Millennium seeks to build and operate new natural gas facilities including 7.9 miles of 16-inch diameter pipeline extending from the company’s existing mainline to CPV Valley LLC‘s Valley Energy Center in Orange County, NY. The project would provide transportation capacity for 130 MMcf/d to serve the 650 MW gas-powered facility. FERC staff concluded that the project, with appropriate mitigating measures, would not adversely affect the environment, according to the EA. FERC will take comments on the EA through June 8.