Another entry in the LNG stakes
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050203-9...
Floating project proposed off Baja
By Diane Lindquist
February 3, 2005
An intriguing new player has entered the fierce competition to supply liquefied natural gas to Baja California and Southern California.
A private Baja California company has teamed with Moss Maritime, a global leader in the design and engineering of LNG tankers, to build a $55 million
floating LNG project about 5 miles off the coast of Rosarito Beach.
The partners plan to convert an LNG vessel into a floating storage and regasification unit ? known in energy circles as an FSRU ? that would supply
LNG to the cross-border region.
"We believe an FSRU is the best way to receive, store, regasify and transport the gas, which will be delivered to shore," said Lucy Oca?a, public
relations director for the Mexican partner, Terminales y Almacenes Maritimos de Mexico S.A. de C.V., known as TAMMSA.
"This concept has less impact on the environment compared to shore-based and gravity-based platforms," she said.
TAMMSA and Moss applied in mid-January for a federal environmental permit to develop the project.
Sempra Energy and ChevronTexaco already have gained the Mexican permits required to develop LNG receiving terminals along the Baja California coast.
In California, Australian energy company BHP Billiton wants to develop a facility off the Ventura County coast, and Houston-based Crystal Energy
proposes to put a terminal on an abandoned oil platform in the same area. The Japanese energy giant Mitsubishi seeks to put a terminal on shore at
Long Beach Harbor.
None of the California projects has gained the U.S. federal permits needed to develop LNG receiving terminals.
Energy experts say only one or two liquefied natural gas receiving terminals are needed to supply the Baja California-Southern California region.
Although details of the TAMMSA-Moss project have not been made clear, it appears it might allow liquefied natural gas to be brought to the region more
inexpensively.
The floating regasification unit apparently does not require the amount of investment needed to build other proposed LNG facilities and would allow
energy companies to trade on a spot market, thus getting the fuel at lower prices.
"It would have the least environmental impact and be the most competitive way to get LNG to the West Coast," said Bill Powers, a leading critic of
most of the proposed facilities.
Jeremy Martin, director of the Institute of the Americas' energy program, however, said the entry of a new player in the competition to bring
liquefied natural gas to Baja California and Southern California "seems awfully late in the game."
Sempra was the first to receive Mexican federal permits. It plans to build a $670 million LNG onshore complex 14 miles north of Ensenada on the Costa
Azul plateau. Shell Oil plans to share capacity with Sempra on the project, which has been embroiled in legal challenges, including one claiming the
San Diego energy firm does not hold title to the property where it wants to build the facility.
More recently, ChevronTexaco gained Mexican approval to develop a $650 million LNG receiving terminal off the coast of the Coronado Islands that would
operate from a platform secured to the bottom of the sea.
Both companies plan to complete their projects in 2008.
Floating facilities are much less expensive than on-shore projects like Sempra's or gravity-based platforms like ChevronTexaco's, said Terry Mitchell,
a Houston-based natural gas consultant.
"It's feasible they've got a technology that sits there and receives LNG," he said.
Oca?a, while unavailable to provide details on the project, contended in an e-mail that the TAMMSA-Moss floating platform concept can be realized more
quickly than either the Sempra or ChevronTexaco project.
"The FSRU is scheduled to be in place and begin operations approximately 24 months from receipt of the required permits," she said.
Terminales y Almacenes Maritimos de Mexico is owned by Compania Energetica de Mexico S.A. de C.V., or CEMSA, and Moss Maritime of Norway. Moss is
wholly owned by Saipem/ENI, a major gas and oil pipeline construction, contractor, and drilling company. ENI is Italy's national oil and gas company.
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