FERC approves National Grid’s Fields Point LNG build

The United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted National Grid’s request to add liquefaction capacity to its Fields Point storage facility in Providence, Rhode Island. 

National Grid owns and operates the 600,000-barrel Fields Point storage facility, and provides storage, vaporization and redelivery services.

Currently, the customers deliver LNG to the facility via trucks for storage, and National Grid redelivers gas to those customers, most often as vapor via pipeline, and on occasion as LNG by truck.

Narragansett Electric Company pipeline facilities are used to deliver revaporized gas from National Grid’s storage facility to Narragansett Electric’s distribution system and by displacement to an Algonquin Gas Transmission interstate pipeline for ultimate delivery to National Grid’s storage customers.

The proposed project would effectively reverse this flow by enabling Algonquin to transport gas that Narragansett Electric would deliver to Fields Point to be liquefied and stored.

National Grid states that two of its existing customers, Narragansett Electric and Boston Gas Company requested it add liquefaction capability to enable them to deliver gas to National Grid by pipeline and thereby diversify their supply sources.

New liquefaction facilities proposed at the project site include a gas pretreatment and liquefaction system capable of converting and storing 20 million standard cubic feet per day.

In addition to the new liquefaction facilities, National Grid would construct a new LNG pump loading skid containment sump, which would serve a new LNG truck loading pump area, within the existing LNG tank containment sump in the LNG storage containment area.

National Grid states that the firm service capacity of the proposed project is fully subscribed for 20 years under precedent agreements with two of its three existing customers.

In its notice, FERC added that the completion of the construction is set to be completed within three years following the issuance of the order.