Port Manatee approves LNG deal

Port Manatee approves LNG deal    Manatee County Port Authority Thursday approved a long-term $30 million agreement with Port Dolphin Energy, a company owned by Norway’s Hoegh LNG, to build a deepwater port for liquefied natural gas ships.
   During the first five years of the agreement, Port Manatee would receive more than $16 million in cash and assets, followed by about $15 million over the remainder of the agreement.
   The port authority's approval precedes a pending decision by the U.S. Maritime Administration to issue a deepwater port license to Port Dolphin to construct an LNG port 28 miles off the coast of Manatee County, Fla.
   With MarAd's deepwater port license, LNG tankers would arrive at Port Dolphin's offshore facility and then connect to a new undersea pipeline system that would come onshore at Port Manatee. Port Dolphin's vessels will be outfitted to re-gasify its cargo of LNG. The natural gas would then be fed into a submerged pipeline, ultimately serving customers throughout Florida.
   Port Dolphin officials estimate its project will generate more than $150 million in direct economic impact within Manatee County during the next 20 years. Construction is to begin in 2012 with completion in 2013.