Imported LNG to serve east coast utilities

Through the El Paso Natural Gas Co. project, Consolidated Natural Gas Co. and Columbia Gas System, Inc., expect to import Algerian LNG equivalent to 650 million ft/sup 3//day of natural gas by 1977, with initial deliveries to start in late 1976. The project will eventually cost $2 billion and involve LNG imports equivalent to 1 billion ft/sup 3//day of gas. Arriving from Arzew, Algeria, at the Cove Point, Md., terminal, the LNG will be unloaded at an unloading pier in Chesapeake Bay at rates up to 52,500 gal/min, then pass through 32-in. stainless-steel unloading lines enclosed in a 6000-ft-long underwater tunnel that will also contain service piping, communication and instrumentation wiring, electric power cables, and a center compartment for service, maintenance, and access to the pier. The LNG will then enter four 375,000-bbl double-wall (aluminum and carbon steel) LNG storage tanks. The regasification facilities are designed to deliver 1 billion ft/sup 3//day of natural gas, with a 20% safety factor. From Cove Point, the gas will be transported through a new 83-mi 36-in. pipeline to a new meter/regulator station in Loudoun, Va., where Columbia Gas will take its 300 million ft/sup 3//day share. The remaining 350 million ft/sup 3//day willmore » be transported via a 190-mi 30-in. line to Leidy, Pa., for Consolidated Natural. The design of the Cove Point terminal will emphasize safety and environmental compatibility. Each storage tank will be surrounded by an earthen and concrete dike able to contain the full tank capacity of LNG. Theere will be no emissions of odors, pollutants, smoke, or undesirable sound into the atmosphere, nor any change in the temperature of the bay water. The plant will be largely screened from view by appropriate landscaping. About 190 acres of freshwater marsh and the beach barrier that are a part of the site--previously unavailable to scientists for ecological and environmental study and research--will become a wildlife preserve and study area.« less