ExxonMobil to Build Gas Terminal off Long Island Waters

December 12, 2007

(Long Island, N.Y.) ExxonMobil wants to build a $1 billion liquefied natural gas terminal between the waters of Long Island and the Jersey Shore, a project designed to deliver new supplies of fuel to a region where rising demand and tight supplies have led to steady price increases for consumers.

Anchored approximately 20 miles off the coast of New Jersey, the more than $1 billion terminal will be far from shore and away from shipping lanes, ports and recreational areas.

Senior executives at Exxon touted the project, dubbed BlueOcean Energy, saying the floating terminal will have the capacity to supply about 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, enough to meet the needs of more than 5 million residential consumers in New Jersey and New York, while creating a gateway to global supplies.

There is only one offshore LNG terminal currently in the U.S., located in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, but a number of other proposals have been developed to build offshore terminals, largely because of the fears of siting the facility in populated areas because of the highly combustible nature of liquiefied natural gas. There are four onshore LNG terminals, including near ports in Boston and another in Baltimore.

Atlantic Sea Island Group is proposing to build a 63-acre artificial island where the LNG would be heated and converted to gas and sent through a pipeline to the New Jersey coast. Beyond that plan, there is a proposal pending to build a LNG terminal in Logan Township on the Delaware River, and another plan to construct a floating terminal in Long Island Sound, about nine miles off the Long Island coast.

In addition to BlueOcean Energy, ExxonMobil is involved in three other terminal projects. Receiving terminals are under construction near Sabine Pass, Texas; in Wales in the United Kingdom; and offshore Italy in the Adriatic Sea. With several years required for permitting, engineering and construction, BlueOcean Energy is expected to begin service around the middle of the next decade.

Posted by News LI Editor · Edited by Brianna - Filed Under Business