The US Coast Guard has issued a Letter of Recommendation to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) confirming the suitability of the Brownsville Ship Channel for Texas LNG’s marine traffic as it relates to safety and security.
USCG Captain R.A. Hahn, Captain of the Port, Corpus Christi, Texas, wrote in his letter to FERC:
After reviewing the information in the applicant’s [Letter of Intent] and Waterway Suitability Assessment and completing an evaluation of the waterway in consultation with a variety of state and local port stakeholders, I recommend that the Brownsville Ship Channel be considered suitable for … accommodating the type and frequency of LNG marine traffic associated with this project.
In its review of Texas LNG’s Water Suitabilitity Assessment, the USCG addressed public comments that raised a number of issues, including safety, security, potential environmental impacts, economics, public outreach, and physical characteritics of the ship channel, concluding that the waterway is suitable to handle current and anticipated incremental traffic from the Texas LNG facility.
The Texas LNG facility is being designed to accommodate LNG carriers with nominal LNG capacities up to 180,000 m3 and dimensions on the order of 977 feet (298 meters) long and 151 feet (46 meter) wide. The Brownsville Ship Channel has a current depth of 42 feet (12.8 meters), with full U.S. Congressional authorization to deepen its channel to 52 feet (15.8 meters). The total inbound transit from the Gulf of Mexico sea buoy (pilot boarding area) to the future Texas LNG terminal berth is approximately seven miles (11 km).
This is a notable advantage over most other proposed US LNG projects in Texas, as well those in Louisiana, where transit distances can be significantly longer.
Full FERC approval and Final Investment Decision (FID) for the development of the Texas LNG liquefaction project in Brownsville are expected in 2019, and first phase production of 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG is expected to begin in 2023.
