US FERC Chairman Wood envisions 8 or 9 LNG terminals by 2008

Washington (Platts)--24May2004

US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Pat Wood III on Monday
expressed confidence that eight or nine new liquefied natural gas terminals
will be built by 2008, just as the National Petroleum Council recommended in a
report issued last fall. "We will get this done. We need them and we'll get
them," Wood told a Deloitte & Touche-sponsored energy conference in
Washington, D.C. Noting that about 40 LNG projects are currently on the
drawing board, he allowed that the commission probably will grant "more
approvals than we will see get built." He noted that only one of the two
FERC-approved Bahamas-to-Florida pipeline projects likely will "pan out."
Still, he said, eight LNG terminals won't be a problem. "It's going to require
a lot of capital," but "I'm quite convinced the capital is there . . . to meet
the eight to nine we need," he said.

Talking to reporters after his address, Wood commented on the jurisdictional
tussle with the California Public Utilities Commission over Sound Energy
Solutions' plan to build an LNG terminal in California. Wood said FERC will
issue an order on rehearing "very soon" and it's likely the dispute will end
up in the courts. "We have to have a court resolve the conflict," he said. He
said FERC is moving ahead with a draft environmental impact statement for the
LNG project but noted that "uncertainty is absolute poison at the root."


This story was first published in Platts real-time news and market reporting
service Platts Natural Gas Alert (http://naturalgasalert.platts.com ).

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