Houston-based West Delta LNG wants permission to build, own and operate a fixed-platform deepwater port in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, as well as onshore facilities to export liquefied natural gas.
A Federal Register notification published last week by the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard indicates the deepwater port and marine components would include an LNG production and storage unit, a loading platform/marine berth unit and support facilities. Onshore components would include the proposed Venice Pretreatment Plan in Plaquemines Parish in the existing Venice Gas Complex.
On its website, West Delta says the project is designed as “a world-first fixed-platform LNG production facility with uncongested open-water access for LNG carriers, free of the coastal footprint that burdens shore-based facilities,” noting that it provides “opportunities for off-take partners to diversify upstream for even greater supply certainty and price protection.”
The production platform would include three LNG production platforms capable of accommodating six liquefaction trains with a combined capacity of 6.1 million metric tons of LNG, according to the company. Aluminum storage tanks at the facility would be capable of holding 300,000 cubic meters of gas for off-loading to LNG carriers.
The Venice Pretreatment Plan would receive natural gas from Gulf of Mexico midstream pipelines and interstate pipeline feed gas from pipelines already interconnected with the Venice Gas Complex, according to the filing. The gas would be pre-treated and compressed onshore and sent to the offshore deepwater port.
The proposed deepwater port will consist of 13 fixed bridge connected platforms with piles in Outer Continental Shelf West Delta Lease Block 44, approximately 10.5 nautical miles off the coast of Plaquemines Parish in 60-foot waters. The loading platform and marine berthing facilities will contain a loading arm system to load onto a single LNG trading carrier.
An open house and public scoping meeting are planned for 4-8 p.m. Oct. 29 at 8398 Highway 23 in Belle Chasse as part of a U.S. Coast Guard and Maritime Administration (MARAD) environmental impact statement.
