Construction Set to Start on Jacksonville LNG Facility

JAX LNG said it has executed the remaining engineering and procurement contracts required to begin construction of a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction and storage facility at Dames Point near the Port of Jacksonville.

 

The JAX LNG liquefaction facility is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2017. Once completed, it will be outfitted with a 2 million-gallon storage tank with the capacity to produce in excess of 120,000 gallons of LNG per day. JAX LNG’s Jacksonville plant will be North America’s first small-scale coastal LNG facility and will include marine distribution capabilities utilizing North America’s first LNG bunker barge, Clean Jacksonville. 

 

“The LNG industry is seeing a steady growth in demand,” said Tim Hermann, president of Pivotal LNG. “This facility will expand our ability to serve more customers and add commerce, including skilled jobs to support the local economy. We greatly appreciate support from the local Jacksonville, Fla. community, government officials, JAXPORT, the U.S. Coast Guard and the JAX Chamber of Commerce. Without their support, this project would not be possible.” 

 

In 2015, the JAX LNG joint venture was formed, which brought together Pivotal LNG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company Gas, and NorthStar Midstream, LLC, a midstream transportation company backed by funds that are managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. and Clean Marine Energy LLC. 

 

JAX LNG is the long-term supplier of LNG to the world’s first LNG dual fuel container ships, the Isla Bella and Perla del Caribe, operated by TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico. “This new plant development in the Port of Jacksonville will allow us to continue to work with our partners and develop innovative LNG bunker opportunities,” said Peter Keller, executive vice president of TOTE. 

 

Last year, Pivotal LNG began testing a mobile pumping skid, developed by TOTE and Applied Cryogenic Technology, to transfer LNG to the new LNG fueled TOTE containerships. Testing of the manifold was successful, and the first LNG bunkering occurred in December 2015. Since then, LNG has been delivered to TOTE’s ships by JAX LNG on a regular basis utilizing the mobile pumping skid, which is operated by Pivotal LNG employees. LNG for TOTE’s two LNG-powered containerships is currently being supplied to JAX LNG through an agreement with Pivotal LNG. 

 

“With the mobile pumping system as an interim fueling solution, we have already begun to serve the LNG fueling needs of TOTE in Jacksonville, Fla.,” said Hermann. “Once complete, this new LNG facility will provide a reliable long-term LNG fuel source in Florida that will help meet the growing LNG demands of the maritime industry and help expand the use of LNG throughout the southeastern U.S.” 

 

“JAX LNG will be the first fully integrated LNG fueling facility in the United States built specifically to meet the needs,” said Tim Casey, CEO of NorthStar. “The facility will include a marine dock to load bunkering barges that will deliver marine LNG up and down the East Coast of the United States. We are excited to partner with TOTE and Pivotal on this unique facility.”