Excelerate Energy’s Northeast Gateway offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) system in Massachusetts Bay is scheduled to receive its first tanker shipment later this month, according to a company spokesman.

The Northeast Gateway project, which was completed in December, consists of two submerged buoys that will attach to specialized ships capable of regasifying LNG on board and send it into a subsea pipeline system. Algonquin Gas Transmission has built a 16-mile pipeline that will tie the Northeast Gateway system to its existing HubLine system, which runs under the ocean floor across Massachusetts Bay and connects to the New England natural gas grid (see NGI, Feb. 12, 2007).

The LNG tanker, which is coming from Trinidad, will tie up to the buoy system in Massachusetts Bay, about 18 miles east of Boston, according to spokesman Doug Pizzi. U.S. Coast Guard security restrictions prevent Excelerate from giving a more specific date for the shipment, he said.

About a month and a half ago, Pizzi said the company tested the buoy system with an empty vessel. The new offshore LNG system, the first of its kind in the Northeast, has the potential to meet 20% of the average natural gas demand of New England, he noted.

Northeast Gateway said the system has the capacity to deliver up to 800 MMcf/d of natural gas into Algonquin’s HubLine.

Two other LNG facilities — Sabine Pass LNG of Cameron Parish, LA, and Freeport LNG of Brazoria County, TX — also are scheduled to receive their frist LNG cargoes this month.

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