Liquid Natural Gas project in Katrina's path progresses one layer at a time

TEXAS AND LOUISIANA, U.S. - February 7, 2006

A Stork SwL crew is continuing work on an LNG receiving terminal project that began in the summer of 2005. The project, known as the Sabine Pass LNG, covers 853 acres in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, an area that suffered heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina in October.

"The project was delayed six to eight weeks by the hurricane," says Geotechnical Engineering Manager Pat Kenney. "It's located right on the Gulf Coast Highway, which was severely damaged by the storm. Access was cut off while they removed mud and debris from the roads, and once they got through they found the entire office complex demolished and trailers flipped over. Everything needed to be rebuilt for the project to continue."

The project is continuing, with added emphasis on stabilizing the marshy ground and protecting it from the Sabine Pass Channel and the Gulf. "Once they've staged construction of containment dikes over the very soft ground, a clay fill is added carefully—one layer at a time—so that the soil is consolidated rather than displaced. SwL techs monitor and verify testing of ground improvement processes by soil stabilization methods to depths of 10 feet, using fly ash chemical admixtures. The process takes several months to build a stable foundation for the 290-foot diameter LNG tank."

Stork SwL is supporting Recon LP, Bechtel Corporation, and Cheniere Energy with earthwork, soils testing, laboratory and field compaction, concrete testing and inspection, and monitoring of inclinometers and piezometers, among other services. Two full-time engineering technicans and a full-service onsite testing laboratory have been recently installed at the site by SwL.

Despite the delay, the project is expect to finish near its scheduled completion date of August 2007. According to the Cheniere Energy website, when completed, "The natural gas from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal will pass through the Cheniere Sabine Pass LNG pipeline into the natural gas transmission network." A proposed pipeline will run from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal 16 miles to Johnson Bayou, transporting 2.6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.

^{A Stork crew is at work on the Sabine Pass Liquid Natural Gas Terminal Project in Louisiana. The site was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. (Photo courtesy of the Cheniere Energy website, http://www.cheniere.com)}