Gulf Gateway Deepwater Port

Gulf Gateway Deepwater Port was the first offshore liquefied natural gas LNG import facility.[1]

Gulf Gateway was owned by Excelerate Energy Limited Partnership. It was located in Block 603 of the West Cameron Area, South Addition at a distance of approximately 116 miles (187 km) from the Louisiana Coast, Gulf Gateway had a baseload capacity of 500 million cubic feet (14,000,000 m3) per day with a peak capacity of 690 million cubic feet (20,000,000 m3) per day.[2] Unlike the four LNG terminals which were built in the US before it, Gulf Gateway utilized a special type of LNG carrier which can vaporize LNG on board the ship offshore rather than on land.[3] In addition the vessel, the terminal consisted of a submerged turret loading (STL) buoy system,[4] a new-build piled platform to support a gas custody transfer metering station, and associated pipelines to connect the subsea offloading buoy system to two pipeline grids.

History

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Offshore construction of Gulf Gateway commenced in August 2004 and was completed in February 2005 at a cost of approximately US$70 million. First cargo delivery occurred on March 17, 2005 from the world's first Energy Bridge Regasification Vehicle (EBRV),[5] also known as a floating storage and regasification unit, the Excelsior.[6]

The Gulf Gateway was in operation in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike and was not affected by either storm.[7]

The terminal was closed in 2011,[8] due to the shift in the supply-demand balance[9] in the United States from the proliferation of shale gas. The components of the terminal were removed for use at other similar terminals.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "StackPath".
  2. ^ "StackPath".
  3. ^ "Energy-pedia – upstream oil & gas news for EP professionals".
  4. ^ "Submerged Turret Loading".
  5. ^ "Excelerate Buys Rights to el Paso's Energy Bridge LNG Technology; Takes over Project". 18 December 2003.
  6. ^ "Excelerate Energy | Leader in Integrated LNG Solutions".
  7. ^ "First Deepwater LNG Import Facility to be Retired". 20 April 2011.
  8. ^ "Federal Register :: Request Access".
  9. ^ "MARAD OKs Retirement of First LNG Deepwater Facility". 15 August 2013.
  10. ^ "A Barrel Full", oil industry website.
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28°05′16″N 93°03′07″W / 28.0877°N 93.0519°W / 28.0877; -93.0519