GULF TRACE VIDEO
LNG FACTS
Construction continues on the seven-mile Gulf Trace expansion project, designed to expand the existing pipeline
system to deliver gas to the Sabine Pass Liquefaction Facility 2 in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The project will
include two compressor stations and modifications to the existing Transco mainline.
“Right before the pipe drops off the rack, we
hook on floats,” Owen says. “Because our
trench is filled with water the entire length, we
literally just guide the pipe right down the right
of way one piece at a time. Certified divers
then remove the floats and the pipe gets
placed underground.”
The concrete coating helps ensure the pipe
remains in place and does not float out of the
ground after installed due to water pressures
from the high water table in the coastal
marsh area.
“We put the concrete around the pipe to
neutralize the buoyancy effect, and the
concrete helps keep the pipe settled,”
Owen explains.
Offsite Staging
Adding to the uniqueness of this project is
the fact that one of the compressor stations is
actually being prefabricated at another location.
The compressor facility that will ultimately
be added to Transco Station 44 in Johnson
Bayou, Louisiana, is being put together in
Channelview, Texas. After being staged there, it
will be moved piece by piece by truck and then
reassembled at Station 44.
“The site there at Station 44 doesn’t have a lot of
extra staging space so we are staging the unit
at the facility in Texas and then moving the
parts to the Station 44 site as we need them for
assembly of the facility at the site,” Owen says.
That compressor station will be placed on a
20-foot platform to account for the potential
for high tides that can occur in the Gulf Coast
during a hurricane. It’s just another key step in
this exceptional engineering and construction
effort that is designed with one goal in mind
— providing the key infrastructure needed to
help our customer meet its needs.
“When we go on line with this expansion of the
Transco pipeline system, we are going to be
delivering up to 1.2 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per
day) of natural gas to Cheniere,” explains
Owen. “There’s a lot of gas that needs to
come this direction.” ■
Selling some of America’s natural
gas resources globally has the
potential to create thousands of
new jobs, grow manufacturing,
generate billions of dollars in
royalties and new government
revenues and expand U.S. trade.
According to the U.S. International
Trade Administration, each $1
billion of liquefield natural gas
(LNG) exports could result in more
than 6,000 new jobs. Thus, $13
billion to $25 billion worth of LNG
exports could mean the creation
of between 75,000 and 150,000
new American jobs.
Jobs would be created in
natural gas production, the steel
industry, pipefitting and many
other industries – benefitting
communities across the U.S.
A tanker docks at an LNG import
terminal in Nynäshamn, Sweden.
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