JAX LNG has executed the remaining engineering and procurement contracts required to begin construction of a new LNG liquefaction and storage facility in Jacksonville, Florida.
The LNG facility will be located at Dames Point near the Port of Jacksonville, JAX LNG said in its statement on Tuesday, adding that the plant is expected to enter operation in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Once completed, it will be outfitted with a 2 million-gallon storage tank with the capacity to produce in excess of 120,000 gallons of LNG per day.
In 2015, the JAX LNG joint venture was formed by Pivotal LNG, a unit of Southern Company Gas, and NorthStar Midstream, a midstream transportation company backed by funds that are managed by Oaktree Capital Management and Clean Marine Energy.
According to the JAX LNG statement, the Jacksonville plant will be North America’s first small-scale coastal LNG facility and will include marine distribution capabilities utilizing North America’s first LNG bunker barge, Clean Jacksonville.
Currently, the joint venture is the long-term supplier of LNG to the world’s first LNG dual fuel container ships, the Isla Bella and Perla del Caribe, operated by TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico. The first LNG bunkering occurred in December 2015.
LNG for TOTE’s two LNG-powered containerships is currently being supplied to JAX LNG through an agreement with Pivotal LNG.