Americas News
LNG Bunkering Demand Seen Growing in Gulf of Mexico
As Harvey Gulf International Marine (Harvey Gulf) moves forward with the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering facility at the Port of Fourchon in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a port official says demand for the fuel is likely to grow, local newspaper the Tri-Parish Times reports.
"It's really interesting to be on the forefront of this," said Chett Chiasson, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission.
"There's just not a huge market for LNG fuel for marine use right now, but that's something that is on the horizon. It's coming."
Harvey Gulf plans to open the nation's first LNG fuelling facility by February 2014, with two sites at the port holding a total of 540,000 gallons of the fuel planned.
The company says it will install six 90,000-gallon, insulated, vacuum-sealed tanks capable of holding the liquefied gas for 80 to 90 days without a cooling mechanism.
The company and its contractor, CH-IV International, have worked with the U.S. Coast Guard on the design of the facility.
"We understand what the responsibility of being first means," said Chad Verret, Harvey Gulf's vice president of deep-water development.
Harvey Gulf has said the facility will focus on fuelling LNG-powered oil and gas industry offshore support vessels (OSVs) and will also be able to supply the fuel to vehicles.
The company has invested in a number of its own LNG-fuelled vessels.
