Sempra completes LNG terminal in Baja

SIGN ON SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE ^ | May 15, 2008 | Bruce V. Bigelow

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Stoked by surging natural-gas prices, San Diego's Sempra Energy has completed its new Baja California liquefied-natural-gas terminal – opening the first LNG import facility on the western coast of North America.

JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune Sempra Energy's new Baja California liquefied-natural-gas terminal, known as Energia Costa Azul, was completed at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune The startup of Energia Costa Azul is part of Sempra Energy's corporate strategy that has placed a premium on being one of the top players in natural-gas infrastructure. The isolated docking facility known as Energia Costa Azul, 14 miles north of Ensenada, is expected to serve as a major new source of natural gas for Mexico, as well as California, Arizona and other Western states.

Sempra plans to announce today that its LNG import facility is fully operational. The company completed the terminal at an estimated cost of $1 billion and received its first LNG shipment from Qatar on April 18. A second LNG shipment arrived 10 days later.

snip Sempra's tests included pumping natural gas from Costa Azul into new feeder lines, which Sempra built for about $215 million, and into existing gas pipelines serving California and Mexico.

snip At least 14 similar LNG terminals have been proposed in recent years along the coast from Canada to Mexico, but Sempra's is the only one built so far. The list includes four proposals in Southern California, including an offshore project near Malibu that sank under strong political and environmental opposition.

LNG opponents in Oregon have even argued that the startup of Energia Costa Azul makes LNG projects proposed along the Columbia River unnecessary.

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The list includes four proposals in Southern California, including an offshore project near Malibu that sank under strong political and environmental opposition.

Comment:

Why the USA is hurting for energy.

Just seems dumb to allow a few to control the wishes of the many.

[Oldexpat]

So we now pay the currupt govt of Mexico to pipeline our LNG. Maybe we should now start charging them for processing Tijuana sewage in San Diego..oh wait..that would be mean to a poor country.

[Realism]

So much for energy independence.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

When I lived in Savannah in early part of this decade there was a mothballed LNG terminal at the mouth of the river. It had been authorized and funded in the Carter Administration, completed, but never used as of 2001. As far as I know - it is ready, but still unused.

[marron]

Next step is to start building power plants over the border, to use that natural gas, and just bring the power across. Why pipeline the gas, when its much better to turn the gas into electrons and ship those across.

After that, it might make sense to build a refinery in the same industrial zone.

If California feels guilty producing its own energy, there are others who will gladly do it. For a price.

[fella]

Just seems dumb to allow a few to control the wishes of the many.

IT's RAT style democracy if the RATs have the majority they rule with an iron fist and if the RATs are in the minority then the rights of the minority must be protected an d they rule over the majority. It's quite simple really, no matter what the RATs rule.

[rwh]

So much for energy independence.

I agree. What is really unfortunate is that the U.S has an abundance of Natural gas too especially when you look at the possibilities that exist with the Marcellus shale and Barnett shale. I am intrigued by both, but I don't have high hopes for either of them.

I currently work in the Jonah Field and Pinedale Anticline field here in Wyoming. There is a lot of natural gas in play here, and the industry is pushing for full field development which would last for 20 years and produce somewhere around 30-40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The location of the two fields, which sit right next to each other and on the surface are basically the same field, are in fairly desolate areas with not much more than sagebrush and antelope to look at. The problem is that the envirowhackos are starting to fight production of the fields hard and are using everything from the sage grouse and pygmy rabbits, to high levels of ozone on the ground, to do so. If the sage grouse is ever listed as an endangered species like they want, this field and many others throughout the west will be shut down. With our current list of Presidential candidates and their positions on energy, I, sadly, will not be surprised if I am looking for a new job in the next few years, or working overseas where the prospects for my line of work are much greater.

[OKIEDOC]

What worries me is Americans becoming more and more dependent on others outside our borders.

I think many forget that Mexico nationalized American oil companies years ago.

[thackney]

If you mean this one on Elba Island, it is not only used but being expanded.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&q=Elba+Island,+United+States&ll=32.098863,-80.995331&spn=0.132041,0.232086&t=h&z=12

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3251/is_11_234/ai_n25015562