Offshore staff

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) has approved Excelerate Energy's Northeast Gateway deepwater LNG port for installation in Massachusetts Bay, which will be the first of its kind in the northeast. It will be located 21 km (13 mi) southeast of Gloucester.

The port is designed with capacity to deliver up to 800 MMcf/d through a 26-km (16-mi) pipeline that will feed into Algonquin Gas Transmission's existing HubLine. The line connects directly to the New England gas grid. First gas is expected to be delivered in December 2007.

Northeast Gateway will use a dual subsea buoy system to dock and offload LNG from Energy Bridge vessels. The buoys will submerge 26 m (85 ft) below the surface when not in use.

According to Excelerate, this offshore port system has been used in the North Sea for more than a decade.

02/09/2007