Port

The deepwater port license application submitted by TORP Terminal LP for the Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal has been approved by U.S. Maritime Administrator David T. Matsuda.

Officials at the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Sabine Pass, TX, expect the terminal’s first commissioning cargo to arrive during October.

Barclays Capital and Excelerate Energy LLC have agreed for Barclays to market Excelerate’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargos arriving at its Northeast Gateway deepwater port. Barclays also will provide optimization and hedging services as part of what the firm said is its new Barclays Capital LNG Services division.

Excelerate Energy LLC’s Energy Bridge regasification vessel Explorer completed the discharge of its cargo through the company’s Northeast Gateway Deepwater Port, approximately 13 miles offshore Boston, Excelerate said Tuesday.

The developer of the Bobcat Gas Storage facility in St. Landry Parish, LA, Port Barre Investments LLC, asked FERC for permission to leach three new salt dome caverns to hold an additional 24 Bcf of working gas, expand the Bobcat Compressor Station, add four meter stations and loop the North and West Pipeline Corridors. The storage facility currently is certificated for two caverns totaling 15.6 Bcf of working capacity. The expansion would raise the facility’s working capacity to 39.6 Bcf and increase the maximum deliverability to 3 Bcf/d from 1.2 Bcf/d and maximum receipt capacity to 1.6 Bcf/d from 900 MMcf/d. FERC earlier gave Bobcat Gas Storage the green light to place one of the previously certificated caverns in service (see NGI, Nov. 10). The cavern was expected to have 6 Bcf of total storage capacity at start-up, and is expandable to 7.8 Bcf. Helping to develop the facility is Haddington Energy Partners III LLC, a private equity fund. The Bobcat facility is 45 miles from Henry Hub and provides access to gas from offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore in Texas and Louisiana.

Due to the loss of compression and capacity, Sabine Pipe Line declared a force majeure Wednesday as it removed the unit at the Port Neches Compressor Station in Jefferson County, TX, from service for needed maintenance. Repairs are expected to be completed within 48 hours, Sabine said. Three points are affected by the work.

Tennessee said it will have to shut in the 526A-100 Line as soon as possible in order to replace a valve on the Scofield platform near Port Sulphur, LA. Equipment and personnel are anticipated to arrive at the site Wednesday, and Tennessee is estimating that it will take five days for repair completion. Physical flow will be suspended at 32 meters from Wednesday through Aug. 1, Tennessee said. Travel time for work boats and crew mobilizations prompted the pipeline to add a few extra shut-in days for contingency purposes, a spokesman said.

The Alaska Gasline Port Authority (AGPA) and the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority (ANGDA) have shaken hands on an agreement to cooperate in their efforts to build a “All-Alaska” natural gas pipeline. However, the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed earlier this month holds no guarantees that the long-anticipated gas line eventually will transport gas to Lower 48 markets.

Mexico has been in talks with a half dozen companies about building and supplying a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the port of Manzanillo, according to a Reuters News Service report. The country’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is expected to open tenders in the first half of next month.