The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced Tuesday that Gulf Landing LLC has surrendered its license to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) deepwater port off the coast of Louisiana.

While the news wasn’t published in the Federal Register until this week, MARAD said the surrender and cancellation of Gulf Landing’s license was effective April 30.

The decision to surrender the license comes more than two years after developer Shell Oil Co. decided to drop its plans to build the deepwater port, which was to be located 38 miles south of Cameron, LA, in West Cameron Block 213 (see Daily GPI, March 30, 2007). The project was in the early stages of development when Shell notified the U.S. Coast Guard of its decision in 2007.

Shell’s Greg Koehler, project director for Gulf Landing, said at the time the decision to halt the project was driven by U.S. market concerns, especially the plethora of LNG projects that were targeted for the Gulf Coast.

The Gulf Landing project was announced in late 2003 (see Daily GPI, Oct. 30, 2003), and Shell US Gas & Power LLC received approval from MARAD to build the terminal in early 2005 (see Daily GPI, Feb. 18, 2005). However, environmental groups sued to halt not only Gulf Landing, but other proposed LNG ports that would use open-loop technology.

Gulf Landing’s cancellation was one of several LNG projects slated for the Gulf Coast region that had been dropped for various reasons. In 2006, citing market concerns, ConocoPhillips canceled plans to build its open-loop Beacon Port Clean Energy terminal offshore Louisiana (see Daily GPI, Nov. 10, 2006). ConocoPhillips earlier shelved its Compass Port LNG project, ExxonMobil Corp. dropped its Pearl Crossing project, and BP plc put on indefinite hold its Bay Crossing/Pelican Island project onshore Texas.

©Copyright 2009Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.