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Its scale might be the only difference between the Golden Pass liquefied natural gas terminal under construction near Sabine Pass and any other building site - it all rests on a brand-new foundation.
Since the terminal will be receiving a tanker every other day when it becomes operational in 2009, and that's about 180 ships per year, the terminal needs a big, watery front door.
The project's builders will need to dredge 6 million cubic yards of material to build berths that are 40 feet deep in an area that covers an area about 1,500 feet square.
How big is that?
John R. Plugge, Golden Pass LNG's new president, said that's an area equivalent to about 50 football fields.
And where is that 6 million cubic yards going to go?
Much will go to a placement area about 10 miles to the north of the site, which is across the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel from the southern tip of Pleasure Island.
A lot of it will go to an area just north of Keith Lake to help restore a marsh called Pintail Flats. It now is an open-water area, but with the soil dredged from the gas terminal's berth bottom, Pintail could support wetland vegetation growth and provide valuable nursery areas for marine species, as well as a habitat for wildlife and lush feeding grounds for migratory birds.
That could take about three years from when dredging ends, which is expected to be by the end of next summer, Plugge said.
At about the time Pintail Flats Marsh begins to teem with wildlife, liquefied natural gas from one of the world's richest fields in Qatar, a Persian Gulf emirate and partner with ExxonMobil Corp. and Conoco-Phillips in the terminal venture, will begin to arrive at Golden Pass LNG's first two million-barrel-fluid capacity tanks. Three more are to be built.
At full capacity, the terminal will have the ability to provide 2 billion cubic feet of vaporized natural gas per day to customers. That is equal to about 20 percent of what Texas industry uses each day, Plugge said.
The project also includes a 70-mile pipeline from the terminal to Starks, La., where it will be distributed to users in the Northeast and elsewhere.
It includes connections for Southeast Texas customers, which could include ExxonMobil's Beaumont refinery where its electric cogeneration plant consumes large quantities of the fuel.
Plugge is a 25-year veteran of the original Exxon Corp., which merged with Mobil Oil Corp. in 1999.
Plugge has worked in Exxon outposts all over the world, including Qatar, but most recently he worked in oil and gas development in remote Sakhalin Island, a land mass north of Japan in the Russian Far East that both countries have claimed since the end of World War II.
"It's iced-in six months of the year," Plugge said.
It's a little cold for the North Texas native who also worked in the North Sea fields, a notoriously frigid and windy region.
At the moment, preliminary construction is under way with the first of 3,000 pilings being sunk into the soil to depths of 180 to 220 feet to support the five tanks.
The project requires a lot of soil stabilization under the tanks, Plugge said.
The tanks will be about 175 feet high with insulation three feet thick to keep the liquefied gas from vaporizing until it's ready to be pumped into the pipeline under pressure.
About 1 percent to 2 percent of the imported gas will be used to warm up the super-cooled, liquefied commodity.
This form of terminal construction does not use any seawater to warm the gas so there is no potential threat to aquatic life.
Plugge also said the technology is safe, pointing to 40 years' worth of transport around the world with what he characterized as "no major incidents."
As to security, Plugge said the tankers calling at the terminal will be a dedicated fleet doing nothing else. The captain and crew will be part of a closed system and will be known to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The tugs helping to dock the tankers and guide them back out also will be part of the dedicated work force serving the terminal.
"Security is integrated into the management of risk," he said. "Risk to energy supplies is throughout the world. I don't think this is an incremental new risk."
Plugge said Qatar is a strong U.S. ally, which already moves 30 million tons of natural gas a year around the world. In a few years, that figure will climb to 77 million tons a year, he said, and Golden Pass LNG will be importing 15 million tons a year.
Besides, Plugge's alma mater, Texas A&M University, is one of six American universities with installations in Qatar, he said. That's further evidence of strong ties between the two countries.
The entire project is costing about $14 billion with the terminal portion costing $1 billion. The pipeline portion still is under negotiation, he said.
Qatar Petroleum is a joint investor with ExxonMobil and Conoco-Phillips in the terminal, and Qatar Petroleum also is in joint ventures for drilling, liquefaction and in the specialized carriers that will bring it to the Golden Pass LNG terminal.
Plugge is based in Houston. To date, it seems his office has been the world.
"As the project evolves, it's to be determined where I'll be," he said. "The operations planning is in Houston. That will probably be my main area of activity."
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