Port Dolphin Files Application for Florida Deepwater Port

Port Dolphin Energy LLC, a wholly owned US subsidiary of the Norwegian based company Hoegh LNG AS, has submitted an application to the U.S. Coast Guard for approval to build and operate a deepwater port for the import of natural gas to Florida's west coast.

The proposed project will consist of:

--two submerged turret unloading and mooring buoys (STL type) to receive an average of up to 800 million cubic feet per day of natural gas from LNG Shuttle and Regasification Vessels (SRVs), which are purpose built ocean going LNG vessels designed to regasify the LNG onboard and deliver natural gas to a subsea pipeline; and
--a 42-mile offshore pipeline to bring the natural gas from the offshore terminal to Port Manatee in Tampa Bay.

"This is an important milestone in Hoegh LNG's clearly defined efforts to continue the development of our SRV strategy, where we provide transport, regasification and market access for our customers", said Sveinung Stohle, President and CEO of Hoegh LNG AS. "We have several other projects of the same kind in process, and we look forward to develop this important project with local stakeholders, authorities and our customers."

The energy market in Florida is forecast to grow rapidly in the coming years, and natural gas is a valuable source in the energy mix for the state. The proposed Port Dolphin project would introduce capacity with a new access point for natural gas without extensive pipeline expansions, bringing much needed incremental supply of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in Florida. Port Dolphin is based on proven and standard technology, and would not be dependent on Gulf of Mexico production. The proposed project would have a peak delivery capacity of 1.2 billion cubic feet per day. No major onshore facilities would be needed to bring the natural gas to the Florida market. The proposed offshore terminal would be placed 28 miles from the coast, and would not be visible from shore.

Port Dolphin builds on the success for Hoegh LNG in applying innovation to the LNG chain. Hoegh LNG has developed the SRV concept since 2001 and has two vessels on order for delivery in 2009 and 2010 to serve Suez LNG Trading and the Neptune deepwaterport, a similar offshore LNG terminal in Massachusetts Bay close to the city of Boston.

Hoegh LNG is a pioneer in the LNG shipping industry and currently operates a fleet of six conventional LNG tankers. Based on more than 30 years experience in delivering LNG world-wide, Hoegh LNG has during the past five years focused considerable effort in developing and promoting floating LNG regasification terminals such as the SRV system.