Kinder Morgan subsidiaries Elba Liquefaction Company and Southern LNG Company (SLNG) have awarded engineering, procurement, construction contract to IHI E&C for the proposed $2bn natural gas liquefaction project at Elba Island, near Savannah, Georgia.
Under the contract, IHI E&C will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and startup of Elba liquefaction project.
Elba Liquefaction Company, a joint venture of SLNG and a unit of Kinder Morgan, is responsible for the implementation of the project.
IHI E&C will carry out initial engineering, procurement and construction planning from its Houston office.
The two-phased Elba Liquefaction project involves addition of liquefaction and export capability to SLNG’s existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal located at Elba Island.
The project comprises 10 movable modular liquefaction system (MMLS) trains using Shell proprietary technology which will connect to Kinder Morgan’s existing re-gasification terminal at Elba Island.
The existing re-gasification terminal will be modified to include compression for vapor handling and new pumps for loading the LNG on vessels for export.
Upon completion, the Elba Liquefaction Project will have the annual export capacity of 2.5 million tons of LNG, for which Shell will retain the 20-year contract subscription.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the first of 10 liquefaction units is planned to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2018 followed by the remaining units by the end of the same year.
Image: The Elba Liquefaction Project at Elba Island, near Savannah, Georgia is expected to cost $2bn. Photo: courtesy of IHI-EC.com.