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SABINE PASS - Three large red cranes and a least a dozen pilings towering over the marsh and waterway look like children's toys from the top of the lighthouse-style lookout at the Sabine Pass School.
In three years, the Golden Pass LNG terminal is expected to be receiving liquefied natural gas from Qatar, warming the natural gas from its chilly minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit and sending it through pipelines.
On Monday at the school, local and company officials, community members and others celebrated the beginning of the construction of the nearly $2 billion facility, which marks the end of the three-year odyssey of federal permitting, negotiations, agreements, public hearings and other meetings and paperwork.
"Construction has begun," John Plugge, Golden Pass LNG president, announced. "I'm looking forward to the first gas celebration in 2009."
This project will employ 1,000 workers at the height of construction and take three million labor hours. It requires almost as much concrete as Reliant Stadium in Houston, 50 million pounds of steel and 5,000 valves, said Philip Asherman, president and chief executive officer of The Woodlands-based Chicago Bridge & Iron, the project's contractor
"This project is a small part of much larger project," I.B. Ibrahim, director of Qatar Petroleum, said after the meeting. The total project - from the start of the QatarGas 3 and Ras Laffan 3 projects offshore in Qatar's North Field and building double-hulled LNG ships, the pipeline and other components - is valued at up to $14 million.
QatarGas 3 LNG project broke ground in April, according to the Qatar Gas Web site.
The Golden Pass LNG project is a partnership of Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips vice presidents Randy Howard and Mike Stice, respectively, and Rashid Al Khater, consul general of the state of Qatar at the Houston consulate, also were at the celebrations.
Ibrahim said Sabine Pass is a good location because of its spot on the Sabine-Neches Waterway, the local community's support and the port's efficiency.
The local work force and business climate also helped push the project forward, added Plugge.
Local elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble; Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith; and Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz welcomed the facility.
Gov. Rick Perry couldn't attend because of the funeral for former Gov. Ann Richards, but sent a letter.
"How many of you knew where Qatar was before this project?" Griffith asked rhetorically at the celebration.
"(The project) will stabilize the chemical industry in taking some of the volatility in the market," Griffith predicted.
CB&I has a hiring office in Sabine Pass across from the fire station. Also, interested companies can go to www.goldenpasslng.com, click on "contact us," then "contractor and employment information."
rappleye@beaumontenterprise.com
(409) 880-0727
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