Liquefied natural gas (LNG) will not be delivered to Distrigas of Massachusetts’ terminal in Everett, MA, during the week of July 26 to accommodate the extra security precautions that are being taken for the Democratic National Convention in Boston, but it isn’t expected to pose a supply problem in the Northeast, a Distrigas official said last week.

“We foresee no situation where we won’t be able to meet customer contracts,” Doug Bailey, spokesman for Distrigas, a subsidiary of Tractebel LNG NA, told NGI. This will not mean any less gas coming into the Northeast to meet the peak summer gas load, he noted.

LNG vessels will not be the only ones disrupted. The U.S. Coast Guard will conduct random boat searches, place city tour boats and VIP vessels under armed escort, and will board large freighters before they enter Boston Harbor during next month’s Democratic convention, according to an article in The Boston Globe. Part of the Charles River also will be closed, and highway and train traffic will be restricted. It’s estimated that some 600 Coast Guard personnel will be deployed in boats, helicopters and on land to enforce these and other restrictions, it said.

“We adjusted our delivery schedule” so as to not “further tax” the security concerns of the city of Boston and those who will be attending the convention, Bailey said. Although Distrigas does not publicize the arrivals of tankers at its terminal, he said “you can imply” that it will bring in an LNG tanker before the convention and immediately after the convention.

“No one asked us to adjust our schedule,” he said. But “we’ve alerted the Coast Guard about what we thought [the] schedule should be. They are aware of our plans.”

Bailey noted on average one LNG tanker arrives at the Distrigas terminal each week. In addition to the interruption during the week of the convention, he said Distrigas does not bring tankers through Boston Harbor during the July 4th holiday.

Still, he noted that the number of tankers delivering LNG to Distrigas this year will be on par with the number that docked at the terminal in 2003.

Distrigas of Massachusetts is one of four LNG terminals located in the continental United States, with a send-out capacity of 700 MMcf/d and storage capacity of 3.3 Bcf.

©Copyright 2004 Intelligence Press Inc. Allrights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republishedor redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without priorwritten consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.