FERC Filing Shows Cove Point LNG Terminal Short On Cargoes
February 02 2009 - 4:58PM
Dow Jones News
Dominion Resources (D) on Monday filed a minor procedural
request that indicates the firm doesn't know when it will have
enough liquefied natural gas to test its expanded capacity at its
Cove Point, Md., terminal.
Dominion filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission to delay for a year a required noise-level test of its
facility at capacity.
The project, which technically came online late last year,
expanded capacity at the plant to 14.6 billion cubic feet from 7.8
billion and doubled processing abilities to 1.8 billion cubic feet
a day.
With depressed natural gas prices, LNG imports have plummeted in
recent years. In 2005, Cove Point received 73 cargos, but last year
the terminal saw only nine.
A Dominion official confirmed the FERC request revealed that the
company had no idea when it would receive enough shipments to test
the doubled capacity.
StatoilHydro ASA (STO), BP PLC (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA,
RDSB) each own capacity at the terminal.
-By Ian Talley, of Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-9285;
ian.talley@dowjones.com
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