Although there was no public announcement, the Long Beach, CA Port’s Board of Harbor Commissioners in closed session June 5 decided to let expire an ongoing exclusive rights agreement with the proposed developer of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the harbor. The five-member board said it would await the final environmental impact report (EIR) on the project before taking any further action.

A spokesperson for the port confirmed the board action, based on an inquiry from Daily NPI. The so-called memorandum of understanding (MOU) expired June 9.

The final EIR is now expected to be completed by early this fall, according to officials at the Port and for the LNG project sponsor, Sound Energy Solutions (SES), a partnership between Mitsubishi Corp. and ConocoPhillips, which has a MOU for a 25-acre site in Long Beach Harbor to build a receiving terminal for processing up to 700 MMcf/d of LNG.

“The MOU essentially outlines the terms of a lease of the property from the Port, if we successfully conclude the permitting process,” said Tom Giles, COO at SES. “We are continuing in the permitting process, and we expect the process to continue [with or without a MOU extension]. We have no information [or indication] from the Port that it is not going to continue [the agreement].”

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