Dominion Cove Point Receives
First Commercial LNG Shipment
LUSBY, MD. - Dominion Cove Point LNG has received its first
commercial cargo of liquefied natural gas in 23 years. BP Energy delivered about
130,000 cubic meters of LNG from Trinidad and Tobago to Dominion’s (NYSE:D)
dock in southern Maryland aboard the tanker Berge Boston on Friday. The cargo
will ultimately be vaporized into approximately 2.9 billion cubic feet of natural
gas.
“Needed new supplies of natural gas have begun arriving
in Maryland, just in time for winter,” said Thos. E. Capps, Dominion’s
chairman and chief executive officer. “This is the beginning of regular
shipments that will add to the nation’s energy security.”
Dominion received a commissioning cargo July 25 and the company
received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to re-open for
commercial cargos August 18.
Dominion Cove Point is the nation’s largest LNG import
facility with a daily sendout capacity of 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas,
enough to serve the daily energy needs of 3.4 million homes.
Since purchasing the facility in September 2002, Dominion
has re-furbished the import facilities, added new unloading arms, upgraded control
systems, installed new vaporizers and improved safety and security systems.
In addition, Dominion has started construction on a new 2.5 billion cubic feet
storage tank, scheduled for service in January 2005.
“Our staff and over 500 contract workers worked long
hours to bring Dominion Cove Point to commercial status in less than a year,”
Capps said. “We knew businesses and consumers in the Mid-Atlantic needed
new supplies to keep the economy moving and homes warm this winter.”
Dominion Cove Point’s 87-mile pipeline connects with
three major interstate pipelines in northern Virginia – Dominion Transmission,
Columbia Gas and Transcontinental Gas. Through those connections, natural gas
can flow to major markets throughout the Mid-Atlantic, as well as to traditional
underground storage fields.
Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy,
with a diversified and integrated energy portfolio that includes 24,000 megawatts
of generation and 6.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves.
Dominion also serves 5 million retail energy customers in nine states. For more
information about Dominion, visit the company's web site at www.dom.com.
