A Sea of Change for Natural Gas Imports
INTRACOASTAL CITY, La. — About 40 miles southeast of this one-road harbor town, ChevronTexaco Corp. is pioneering a new way to deliver natural gas, the fuel of choice for a growing number of electric plants across the country.
The company recently received federal permission to build what would be the world's first deep-water port for importing natural gas. If all goes to plan, starting in 2007 tanker ships will dock at Port Pelican in the Gulf of Mexico to offload up to 1.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily, enough to turn on the lights in more than 6 million homes.
About 85% of the nation's natural gas comes today from domestic fields, with most of the remainder piped in from Canada. Port Pelican is ChevronTexaco's $800-million bet that those sources won't be able to continue to satisfy the country's growing appetite for natural gas.
"Gas demand in the U.S. has picked up quite a bit, and production in the U.S. and Canada cannot keep up," said Joe Naylor, a vice president in the San Ramon-based company's global gas division.
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