Chevron to decide on Baja LNG terminal by mid-2006
http://www.bnamericas.com/story.jsp?sector=9¬icia=322...
By Guillermo Garc?a
June 24, 2005
US-based Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) will make a final decision on whether to build an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification
terminal in near Tijuana, Mexico by mid-2006, Chevron's Mexico president Carlos Atallah told BNamericas.
The decision will be based on financial reasons and not environmental ones, Atallah added.
Environmental NGO Greenpeace held a protest June 16 in front of Chevron's offices in Mexico City to denounce the project, saying it will have a
negative impact on wildlife on the Coronado Islands, which is an important breeding ground for rare birds.
However, Atallah said the maritime platform would have no impact on wildlife or it will be "insignificant" according to environmental studies carried
out by independent institutions.
Atallah explained the project would be an offshore platform near the islands, located across the maritime US-Mexico border on the Pacific Ocean, 13km
from Tijuana, Baja California state.
Estimated investment in the project is US$650mn.
The proposed terminal would be built using a freestanding concrete structure, along with facilities for offloading, storing and regasifying LNG.
The terminal will have an initial processing capacity of 700 million cubic feet a day (Mf3/d).
Operations of the terminal could start in 2009-2010, Atallah said, after a final decision is made in mid-2006 by Chevron and its partners on the
development of the Gorgon offshore gas field in Australia.
Chevron signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gorgon project - in which the company has a 57% stake and is operator - to supply the Baja
terminal.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
In 2003-2004 Chevron received energy and environmental permits from federal authorities to build the platform. No state or municipal authorization was
required since the LNG terminal will be exclusively on federal jurisdiction.
"We selected the site after we received complete environmental studies from independent consultants like [San Diego-based research institute] Hubs Sea
World and local universities" in Baja California, said Atallah.
"We have scientific evidence that there will not be environmental damage or it will be insignificant, like night lighting, which it is always possible
to diminish," he added.
Moreover, another environmental impact study is being carried out by URS Corporation, a San Francisco-based engineering design company, Atallah said.
Hubbs Sea World is also working on a marine mammal survey around the Coronado Islands, Pamela Yochem, a senior research biologist at the research
institute told BNamericas.
Hubbs will come out with results in 2006 and it will specify what kind of animals pass through the area in different seasons, she said.
OTHER LNG TERMINALS
The Chevron project would be the second LNG regasification project to be developed in Baja California and one of at least seven proposed projects in
Mexico.
Anglo-Dutch company Shell has joined US company Sempra in a 50:50 joint venture to develop the Costa Azul LNG project 97km south of the US-Mexico
border near Ensenada in Baja California.
Costa Azul is expected to start operations in 2007. The plant will have processing capacity of about 1 billion cubic feet of gas a day (Bf3/d) and
will be supplied with LNG from Russia's Sakhalin project and Australia's Gorgon project.
Another three LNG plants are planned on Mexico's Pacific coast at the industrial port of L?zaro C?rdenas, Michoac?n state, the port of Manzanillo in
Colima state and the northwestern port of Topolobampo, Sinaloa state.
Mexico's state power company CFE will launch an international tender to supply 500Mf3/d of LNG to a regasification terminal at Manzanillo in July or
August.
On the Gulf of Mexico coast, Shell is building an LNG terminal at the port of Altamira, about 322km from the US-Mexico border, and another project has
been proposed in the southeastern port of Coatzacoalcos.
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