Shell US Gas & Power LLC announced plans Wednesday to build a deepwater LNG import terminal about 38 miles offshore Louisiana in about 55 feet of water. The terminal, which will be developed for service in 2008-09 by Shell subsidiary Gulf Landing LLC, will have the capacity to deliver 1 Bcf/d into the U.S. interstate pipeline network.

Shell said it is filing an application under the Deepwater Port Act for a license authorizing the construction and operation of the proposed LNG storage and regasification facility to be located in West Cameron Block 213.

“Gulf Landing is our first application for a Shell-operated LNG terminal in the United States,” said Gus Noojin, president of Shell U.S. Gas & Power LLC. “The new terminal will supplement our sizable capacity positions at existing U.S. LNG terminals and will make an important contribution to long-term U.S. natural gas supply.”

As a concrete, gravity-based structure, Gulf Landing will be floated to the site and lowered to rest on the sea floor. The facility will include a berth for mooring LNG carriers, LNG storage and regasification facilities, and pipelines to connect with existing natural gas pipeline systems in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gas output from the facility will be delivered into as many as five major interstate pipelines serving Louisiana and parts of the U.S. Southeast, Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

“Locating an LNG terminal in the established Gulf of Mexico natural gas producing area optimizes the existing transportation network and offsets future production declines from natural gas fields,” said Noojin. “However, new LNG terminals are needed in other regions of the U.S. to meet natural gas demand growth. Shell, as the world’s largest private producer of LNG, is well-positioned to help meet these needs.”

Shell also owns rights to one-third of the capacity at the Dominion Cove Point LNG terminal in Maryland, which has the capability to deliver 750 MMcf/d. In addition, the company holds the entire capacity of the expansion underway at Southern LNG Co.’s terminal in Elba Island, GA. The Southern LNG expansion is scheduled for completion in early 2006 with the capability to deliver an additional 360 MMcf/d.

Shell also is currently in the process of evaluating LNG import terminal sites in Costa Azul and Altamira, Mexico. The company canceled a joint venture with Bechtel on another proposed facility to be located on Mare Island in Northern California.

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