King & Spalding Secures FERC Approval for Client Calhoun LNG for New Facility on Texas Gulf Coast
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - September 26, 2007) - King & Spalding, a leading international law
firm, successfully assisted Calhoun LNG in obtaining permission from the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to site, construct and operate
a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import and gasification facility on the Gulf
Coast of Texas. Calhoun LNG is a wholly owned affiliate of Gulf Coast LNG
Partners, L.P.
FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly, in voting in favor of the project, stated
she was pleased to support approval of the project. "We will have to
increase the importation of natural gas from outside North America," Kelly
said. "It is increasingly clear that LNG will play a growing role in
filling the gap between domestic demand and supply."
King & Spalding partner Erik Swenson, who spearheaded the regulatory
efforts of the project, said, "King & Spalding is delighted to have had a
role in promoting another source of clean natural gas to help meet U.S.
demand for energy." Swenson noted that Gulf Coast's innovative decision to
integrate a gas treatment plant with the project provides a competitive
advantage with respect to the sources of LNG it can accept. "We also agree
with the FERC that still more projects of this type are needed," Swenson
said.
FERC ordered the Calhoun LNG project to be completed and ready for service
within five years after its authorization order. King & Spalding will
continue to represent Gulf Coast before FERC and with regard to other
regulatory, commercial and financial matters related to the project, as the
project progresses.
Calhoun's proposed terminal and associated facilities will be located in
the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort in Calhoun County, Texas. The LNG
import terminal would be comprised of a marine berth facility, two 160,000
m3 LNG storage tanks and a vaporization and LNG separation facility capable
of a 1 bcf sendout, as well as associated utilities, infrastructure and
support systems. Separately, the Calhoun County Navigational District is
engaged in a contemporaneous port improvement project that will enhance the
range of LNG carriers the terminal will be able to receive.
Gulf Coast LNG Partners, L.P. is a Houston-based partnership formed between
Gulf Coast LNG, LLC and Haddington Energy Partners II, LP, a private equity
fund managed by Haddington Ventures, LLC. Additional information about Gulf
Coast LNG Partners, L.P. and the Calhoun LNG project may be found at
www.calhounlng.com/.
Haddington Ventures provides capital to the energy industry, including
mid-stream oil and natural gas companies and electric generation,
transmission, and distribution companies, with a focus on natural gas
storage, gathering and processing, and other midstream activities.
Additional information about Haddington Ventures is available at
www.hvllc.com.
King & Spalding is one of the most active advisers to the LNG industry,
representing more than a dozen domestic LNG terminal development projects.
Nine of those projects have received FERC or MARAD authorizations, two have
pending applications that are being actively prosecuted and the rest are in
early stages of development. More information on the firm's LNG practice,
including international aspects, may be found at
www.kslaw.com/Library/publication/LNG_Brochure.pdf.
About King & Spalding
King & Spalding is an international law firm with more than 800 lawyers in
Atlanta, Charlotte, Dubai, Frankfurt, Houston, London, New York, Riyadh
(affiliated office) and Washington, D.C. The firm represents half of the
Fortune 100 and in a Corporate Counsel survey in September 2007 was among
the top firms representing Fortune 250 companies. For additional
information, visit www.kslaw.com.
Contact Information: Contact:
Les Zuke
King & Spalding
Ph (212) 827-4392