| Connaughton |
MarAd said officials from Woodside Natural Gas Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., have “committed to Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton and representatives from seafaring trade unions that Woodside would create a U.S. presence in the rapidly growing international liquefied natural gas fleet.'
Woodside has agreed to employ U.S. mariners in its operation of the proposed OceanWay deepwater port, located 28 miles off the Los Angeles coast, and to register its two new LNG regasification vessels under the U.S. flag, MarAd said.
Although the global LNG fleet has been growing rapidly — from 194 ships at the beginning of 2006 to a projected 373 at the end of 2007 –there are no U.S.-registered LNG ships.
Woodside’s proposed OceanWay facility would use LNG carriers to transfer LNG to U.S.-flagged regasification vessels, which would then convert the LNG into natural gas for injection into Southern California’s onshore pipeline system.
More than 90 American officers and crew would be employed on each of the vessels.
