Port Dolphin Energy LLC, which is a US subsidiary of the Norwegian company Hoegh LNG AS, has proposed building, owning, and operating a deepwater liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility approximately 28 miles offshore Tampa Bay, Fla., in 100 feet of water. The Port Dolphin deepwater port would help to meet growing demand for natural gas in the Southeastern U.S., primarily in Florida.

According to the US subsidiary, the Port Dolphin Project would rely on one or more LNG shuttle and regasification vessels (SRVs). The SRV tankers would obtain LNG from two submerged turret unloading and mooring buoys (STL type). After mooring at a buoy for four to eight days, an SRV would vaporize the LNG onboard and then offload the natural gas to a currently envisioned 42-mile-long, 36-inch-diameter subsea pipeline that would transport the natural gas to Port Manatee in Tampa Bay. From Port Manatee, a six-mile-long onshore pipeline would take the gas from Port Manatee to interconnects with the Gulfstream Natural Gas System, L.L.C. and Tampa Electric Co. (TECO) pipelines.

After obtaining approvals for a deepwater port license and associated permits, Hoegh expects the construction period to last approximately 22 months. The first phase of construction would entail fabricating components such as the STL buoys, associated equipment, and marine piping. In the second phase, STL buoys and associated equipment would be sited and the marine pipeline would be laid. In addition, interconnector facilities would be constructed onshore.

Port Dolphin is expected to start commercial operations by 2011. Its initial average daily throughput would be roughly 400 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), but that rate would increase to 800 mmscfd with a peak capacity of 1.2 billion scfd.

According to an Oct. 16, 2008, article in a Bradenton, Fla., newspaper, Port Dolphin officials are reconfiguring the route of the underwater pipeline to allay public concerns about its effects on the mouth of the Manatee River and an aquatic preserve.