Harvey Gulf to Build First LNG Bunkering Facility in America

Harvey Gulf International Marine CEO, Shane Guidry, announced today that Harvey Gulf has secured plans to construct and operate the first LNG marine fueling facility in the United States, to be located at its vessel facility in Port Fourchon, Louisiana.

The fueling facility will be a vital addition to the growing national LNG supply infrastructure, supporting critical operations of the oil and gas industry’s offshore support vessel fleet operating on clean burning LNG.

Mr. Guidry commented, “to date, Harvey Gulf is the only company in North America that has committed $400M USD to build, own and operate LNG powered offshore support vessels as we’ll as two LNG fueling docks. It is clear that Harvey Gulf’s entire organization is committed to do its part to help reduce our impact on the environment.”

To support the development of the LNG fueling facility, Harvey Gulf has secured CH•IV International of Houston, Texas as the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor. The facility will consist of two sites each having 270,000 gallons of LNG storage capacity. The tanks will be stainless steel Type ‘C’ pressure vessels with vacuum insulation and carbon steel exteriors. Each facility will be able to transfer 500 gallons of LNG per minute. Aside from the facilities primary role of supporting the Oil and Gas Industry, the facility will be capable of supporting over-the-road vehicles that operate on LNG. The estimate to complete the first site is February 2014, with the second site following shortly thereafter.

Expanding on its commitment to safety and security of vessel operations and port facilities, Harvey Gulf has actively enlisted the expertise of the USCG to participate at all levels of the development of this facility. Mr. Guidry noted “the success of our LNG new build program would not be possible without the gracious cooperation and commitment of the USCG personnel.”

Harvey Gulf also announced the signing of a 6th Offshore Support Vessel to be built at Gulf Coast Shipyard Group (formerly Trinity Offshore) in Gulfport, MS. With this 6th vessel, Harvey Gulf will become the largest owner and operator of LNG powered OSV’s in the world. These OSV’s represent an ongoing collaborative effort by the vessel designer, Harvey Gulf, ABS and the USCG to develop the most environmentally friendly OSV’s that will operate in the Gulf of Mexico, complying with the stringent ABS Enviro+ notation. With 43 persons on board, the vessels, carrying over 16,000 Bbls of liquid mud, 10,000 cu.ft. of dry cement and 1,500 Bbls of Methanol, are 302′x64′x24.5′ with 7,530 installed kW powering 2,700 kW z-drives.