History of Cove Point

In the 1970s, the former Consolidated Natural Gas Company, parent of what is now Dominion Transmission, partnered with the Columbia Gas System. Together, they built Cove Point to receive, store and process supplies of LNG from such producing countries as Trinidad and Algeria.

Cove Point received ship-borne LNG imports between 1978 and 1980. At that time, increased natural gas production in the United States, spurred by wellhead price deregulation under the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, reduced the need for LNG imports, which were more expensive relative to the new domestic gas supplies.

Consolidated in 1988 sold its interest in the terminal and the Cove Point pipeline to Columbia. In 1995, Columbia Gas reopened the facility for storage and peak-shaving operations. The facility was used to liquefy, store and distribute domestic natural gas for use in the growing Mid-Atlantic region.

Williams purchased Cove Point from Columbia in 2000. Dominion subsequently purchased Cove Point from Williams in 2002 for $217 million. Growing national demand for natural gas, fueled in part by increasing use of natural gas-fired electrical generation stations, once again has required increased imports of LNG.

Dominion received its first shipment in the summer of 2003.